Path of Retribution
by T. T. Ranger
Summary: The only ones capable of defeating the Demon King are nephilim - Dante and Vergil. But what happens when their paths collide with another? Their past, present and future depend on each other. DanteXOCXVergil. The story follows along with the events of DmC:Devil May Cry. All Original Characters belong to the author.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Three burly men came running through the corridor out into the open ground where they came across what seemed to be almost an open fisted - no holds bar - boxing match between two young boys. All the other kids surrounded the fist fighters as the two carried on punching each other. One of the men, who looked like he had been drinking all night and was hung-over, seemed to have a disgruntled look with what he saw - two boys, just going at each other like no tomorrow, with the dark-haired one clearly taking lead.

When the word of the fight between two boys got around, Steve Holden the warden at the orphanage had a gut feeling that one of them would be the new kid.

'What is his problem?' Steve grimaced. 'Can't he make it through one day without creating chaos?'

It had only been two weeks since the new boy arrived at New Haven Orphanage and Steve knew he was trouble, kept getting into fights almost every day. Abandoned at the orphanage and pushed from one foster home to the other they said. 'Now I know why...' thought Steve. There was bound to be blood and injuries at the rate at which they were going.

"Stop that maniac before Bobby gets battered to death!" yelled Steve, motioning the other two men to pull the dark-haired kid away from the other boy.

Last thing he wanted to do was explain to the management as to why there was a dead kid at the facility. The other two men tried hard to pull the boy, who now was sitting on the other boy's middle and using his face as a punching bag, away from Bobby. It took them all their might to lift the kid and separate the two. The boy tried to charge forward to attack again but soon fell backwards as Steve hit him with a baton to his stomach. The boy dipped downwards in pain and groaned.

"Just getting what you deserve, Golden Gloves." said Steve. "Look at Bobby. What could he have possibly done, for you to go all ballistic on him?"

Steve turned to Bobby, he was a 14 year old runaway caught stealing a toy car from a toy store and was sent to the orphanage 3 years ago. No one searching for him, he was parentless and alone. He was a large kid, huge for his age. All the other kids were scared of him and did whatever he asked them to do. No one opposed, up until now. And he was clearly not liking it.

"He started it Mr. Holden!" cried a bloodied Bobby. "I just asked him to give me the ball and he pounced on me.", he continued holding on to his now broken nose.

"No way, you asshole!" yelled the other kid, trying to lunge forward only to be pulled back by the two men holding him.

"You're sayin' he came at you for a ball?...You're kidding me, right?" Steve asked Bobby. Before Bobby could answer a small voice answered in his place.

"He's lying! That's not what happened, Sir."

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound. It came from a small girl with dark brown hair, in braids till her shoulders, wearing a pink cotton dress with small flowers on it.

Only 7 years old, the girl had arrived around the same time as the trouble maker. Her behaviour was far different from the boy's. She kept to herself, spoke little and stayed far away from the other kids. But she was trouble no less, used to wake up in the middle of the night screaming about monsters and scary things. 'They are all around us and want to hurt me.' she said. 'Talk 'bout fruit basket' thought Steve. It took the nurse hours to calm her down. No one knew her name, even her own self. And it occurred to no one to give her a one. It was always 'Honey' 'Sweetie' ' Princess'.

She was always clutching onto a rag doll as if it was her security blanket, her only possession that survived the huge fire at her previous orphanage that left several other kids homeless too.

"What did you say, sweetie?" asked Steve, hoping that this dispute would end as soon as possible.

"Bobby is lying. He was pulling my braid, calling me a scaredy-cat and said I was a freak for believing in monsters. I asked him to stop but he wouldn't listen." cried the girl.

"He tried to hit me when I pushed him back."

"That's when I punched him. It's no way to behave with a girl.", the boy in custody intervened.

"They are lying Mr. Holden. I swear! It's his fault, he started it. " defended Bobby causing the girl to get furious and punch him in his gut.

"You jerk! Tell 'em the truth!, she yelled.

"That's enough!" Steve had enough of this 'he said - she said' crap. "I don't care as to who started it but I swear, if you three don't quit right now...you will know who ended it."

Turning to the other two men he said "Take Mr. Fist Fighter over here to the solitary confinement. One day in there and he will come back to his senses." He then looked at Bobby and shook his head, 'This kid is gonna need quite a few bandages' he thought. "Take Bobby to the nurse afterwards. He might need a couple of stitches."

Turning to the girl he said, "And you young lady, this is your first time getting into a scuffle so I am gonna let you go. But next time, I won't be so generous" Saying that he walked away leaving the girl with a scared expression on her face.

She watched them take the other boy towards the building. The boy turned his head around, his arms still held by the two men and gave her a small smile as if to say 'It's alright, I believe you. I will keep you safe.' Soon he was gone, leaving her to her thoughts.  
' I hope they don't hurt him' she prayed and with her head bent to the ground walked into the corridor hoping he would be alright.

That night she dreamt of demons and evil again but this time around, she wasn't alone. HE was there, fighting them and keeping them away from her like he promised.

Six months later

It's a dark winter night, cold and chilly but they have no choice. Running away from the orphanage had been easy but surviving on the streets was not. The streets are where they live. 'For now at least.', he thought.

Where else would they go? Who would trust an 11 year old boy with a 7 year old girl in tow? And who would believe in things they saw? No one. They would call the two crazy and have them sent to a mental institution. That's the last thing they needed.

He had promised to keep her safe and this is where they were safe for now, together.

The news anchor on the TV in the electronic store window said that it was the coldest winter the city had seen in the past 20 years. Everyone is hurrying home trying to escape the chilly wind. 'Well, at least they have home.' he thought looking at his surroundings. The back alley to a restaurant had been his unofficial home for the past few weeks. Before that, it was squatting at some empty house. 'We could try that again.' he pondered when he felt the jacket covering him getting pulled to one side and slightly sleepy face looked at him.

"I am hungry, Tony." she said.

Well, it had been tough getting food that day. No cart, no van, no delivery truck was left unguarded. He felt his stomach grumble too.

"I promise we'll eat tomorrow. Now go to sleep." he told her trying to cover himself and her with the jacket as much as possible.

She looked at him and saw his dark hair, blue eyes and his trademark smirk. He wore a red pendant in his neck. ' I wonder where he got that.', she thought. She was younger than him but he was little too, yet he took care of her. And she believed in him.

She gave him small smile and giggled, " You promise?"

" Yeah, Piggles. I promise. Now sleep."

She giggled again and shifted in his arms to rest her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. She trusted him well enough that when he told her he was planning to run away from the orphanage and asked her if she would come with him, she immediately said yes.

Freedom was sweet but staying free was hard. The police found it easy to blame petty crimes on runaway, homeless children and they were always targeted.

Just this evening while trying to steal a loaf of bread, Tony was almost caught. But managed to slip away. And now there was no food. ' I must find something tomorrow.'

Just when he was in the middle of his thoughts, he heard a lot of commotion and turned to look at the opening to the street. And a few people pointing at them and yelling one after the other.

"There they are!"

"I am sure it's one of them. "

"It's him, he tried to steal from my van."

Tony recognized the man, his eyes wide open and he shook the girl awake and said, " Piggles! We gotta get outta here." She woke up startled just in time to see a couple of cops headed their way.

Tony was already standing, pulling her up to her feet. He took her hand into his and started running in the opposite direction.

"Come on, Piggles! Run!"

They kept on running with cops on their tail, turning from street to street trying to give them a slip. But the cops pursued relentlessly.

" Don't let him get away, Carl", one of them shouted. They chased the two kids' right into an abandoned alley with a metal fence at the other end. The kids turned around to the cops as if in defeat but swiftly ran away from them towards the fence.

As soon as they reached the fence, Tony dropped to his knees and pulled the broken end just enough for one of them to pass through.

" I'll go forward, you follow me. Okay, Piggles." The girl nodded in agreement. Tony quickly went through the opening and turned around to pull her through. All the while the cops got closer and closer.

"Hurry, Piggles!" he yelled stretching his hand out to grab her.

She dropped down, entered the opening and was about to give her hand in his, when she felt two hands grab her leg. She panicked, eyes wide and screamed as the cop pulled her away from the fence, away from him.

"Tony! Run! Get away from here."

" No!" he screamed. His eyes wide in shock, disbelieving at what just happened.

"I got her Carl. But the boy made it to the other side. Damn fool crawled right through." said one cop to the other. They gave up trying to catch him but took the girl away.

He watched them take her away with her kicking and screaming the whole way to the cop car. As he stood on the other side of the fence staring at them he thought ' I'll get you out, Piggles. I will.'

That's the last time he ever saw her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Fifteen years later, the city is in unrest and always on edge. All the citizens are in a constant state of fear as terrorist activities are on a rise. No one is safe, everyone is a target. Economy is a bust. Hard times are on everyone. People can barely make ends meet and luxuries are impossible to attain.

Winged at the pinnacle, one building towers above all the rest. A bald man wearing a dark suit with a menacing look on his face looks out the window. Kyle Ryder, CEO of the investment bank, seated in the top offices of Silver Sacks Tower gazes at the city below, pleased with what he sees.

He turns around to look at his office. It's a huge room, dark and menacing. One wall covered with several flat screen monitors relaying feed from almost every closed circuit camera in the city. A city of millions, under his debt, under his control. 'No place to hide.' he thinks.

Another wall showed a vortex, gleaming in an ominous red colour. It's as though it had a life of its own, just a never ending abyss into darkness.

Two large, gothic designed black sofas placed opposite each other. One of which was occupied by his current lover, Lilith. Blonde hair and a distorted face pasted with make-up. She wasn't exactly the prettiest or the strongest in the bunch but had the best skills elsewhere. The ones he liked the most, skills to relieve his stress when required. He was about to get to her when he heard his cell phone ring.

"I see you got my message." he talked into the phone. " Yes, by close of trading on Friday..."

" No, you can't have more time. You know the terms, you know the consequences..." he waited for a reply.

"No. This is not a veiled threat. It's a direct one."

"Should you fail to comply, the collapse of the economy will be on your head..." he spoke venomously into the phone.

"I will make sure that you are stripped of power, shamed and hated. Is that clear enough for you?" he threatened further.

"Well, Friday it is then..."

"You have a good night...Mr. President.". He closed his phone and threw it on one of the sofas, grinning and pleased with himself.

Lilith asked walking towards him, "Did you get it, my darling?" looking at him with admiration and pride.

"Over a trillion. Soon I will own everything worth owning. I will control the world through debt." he seethed.

"I will have absolute power." he bragged curling his hands into a firm fist.

She put her arms around his neck and said "The world is at last your bitch. As am I. Nothing left, you just grab it by the head, bend it over and..."

He pulled back slowly, a worried and pissed off look on his face at the same time.

"What's the matter? What? What is it?" she enquired. 'Hope he isn't mad at me.' she thought.

"A loose end..." he grumbled.

" A loose end? What?"

"The spawns of the traitors..." he spat.

" Oh that..." Lilith said, uninterested in his worries.

"They are still out there. Both of them." he said worriedly.

" The Hunters will find them. They found Sparda and that whore slave of his." she assured him. " And when they do..."

" I will rip open each chest with my bare hands and feed on each beating heart." he said with determination as he gazed down at the city below.

* * *

Around the same time in another part of the city, groups of young adults are seen trying to get into the uber-hip club called Indulgence. A long queue of people stand at the entrance hoping that the bouncer would show them some mercy (if you will) and let them in. The bouncer, with a smug look on his face lets in only those who he feels are worthy or as per his liking.

'The brunette at the back looks toasty.' he thinks while leering at her and her friends. Just as he is about to call onto her, he feels a hand on his shoulder.

He turns around and recognizes the blonde girl wearing a short green dress giggling away, about to fall to the ground. Just as his about to help her up, a strong pair of hands grip her and lift her up.

"Aww...sweetie. My knight in shining armor." she coos in the man's ear. "Can you open the rope for us, Henry?"

He has no problem letting her in but gives a long questioning glare at the guy she is with. Tall, handsome, tanned with dark hair - cut in a Mohawk, grey and red jacket with a white tank underneath. Dark pants and muddy boots. A small cut under his right eye, soo not her type. He was holding her up with one of her arms draped around his neck smirking at the bouncer.

"You sure he's with you Marie?" he questions the blonde.

"Sure he is!" she replies, clearly in not state to protest or comprehend.

"This way in." He unhooks the rope and moves aside to let them in.

The couple walks in with the man almost dragging the girl inside, leaving the crowd outside yelling in response while the bouncer tries to pacify them.

Inside, the club is covered in a haze of smoke and strobe lights. Drinks flowing freely and clubbers drugged to the core. Music blaring out of the speakers and everyone dancing as if no care. The club had several platforms with poles atop which danced white bikini clad women with angel wings on their back.

Angie, Taylor, he knew them well...at least their bodies he did.

'Nice!' thought the man, looking at the dancers who were giving him lusty looks all the while helping his friend who was severely drunk to the corner seat.  
The vibe in club was what he liked the most. Careless, carefree...living like there's no tomorrow.

'There might be no tomorrow for me.'

He tried to get lost in the noise and surroundings but something was 'off' tonight. Something, someone, somewhere. He felt a kind of pull towards it, a tug on his insides as though someone was calling him.  
It was a feeling he had felt just once before. He looked around, trying to spot what it was when his thought was interrupted,

"Dante! Baby! Come here, dance with me" the blonde squealed while trying to steady herself on the couch.

"Later babe, I gotta get something to drink." He smirked and left his date to get to the bar at the other end.

As he pushed through the raving crowd, making his way to the bar he stopped to gape at the dancers on the pole. They recognized him and stepped off the platform snaking towards him seductively.

"Where have you been sweetie? Long time."

"We missed you."

"It was fun last weekend."

"We should do it again." They both squealed.

He looked at each one, arms around each waist, their hands rubbing his chest and feeling the firm muscles and their lips to his ears, licking them ravenously.

"Babes, you know I'm always game for a round or two." He grinned playfully, savouring the attention he was getting.

"Baby, let's go play right now." one of them said excitedly.

"Sure babe! I'll meet you out front in a bit." he suggested, forgetting the woman he left waiting for him at the table.

"Okay!" they agreed looking at each other, whispering in each other's ears, grinning and walking away to the platform.

He left the two and continued ahead to the bar, failing to notice the stares a few of the people were giving him. He had almost reached the counter, when he felt it again, all his senses on edge but brushed it away. He shook his head and pushed further. That's when he saw her.

Cascading dark brown hair till her waist, black top, black boots and tight grey jeans...showing off every curve, every shape. He raised his eyebrow in interest. 'Whoa! Now if only I saw her face.' he wished. And just then as if on cue she turned around to face him. He liked what he saw, gorgeous ivory white face with plump red pouty lips, rosy cheeks and green eyes that looked back at him.

'A looker too.' He gave her an approving smirk.  
She looked right back at him quizzically, trying to figure him out. She gave him a sultry look, giving him a challenging smirk back. They kept fierce eye contact, waiting to see who falters first. But they were an equal match to one another, neither wanting to lose they continued the stare contest.

Both felt a rush of excitement and anxiety, each feeling the blood rushing through their veins, rapid heartbeat and shallow breath. He gave a quick nod and walked towards the door, she just smirked right back, picked up her jacket and followed him in silent agreement.

She walked out of the club exit and looked around trying to spot the guy. She looked to her right and saw two women talking animatedly with each other.

"He said he'd be here, Angie." said one.

"Yeah, I know! But where is he?" asked the other one, frustrated.

The guy in question had clearly ditched them.

'Sucker much' the girl thought and shook her head. Suddenly, a red convertible stopped right in front of her grabbing her attention and sitting in the driver's seat was him. She smiled and got in and the car raced into the night.

Both failing to notice that someone had been following and documenting their every move.

They drank their way on the road, their eyes undressing each other and by the time they got to his trailer at the pier, they were high on alcohol, adrenaline and intoxicated with desire.

He got out of the car, a bottle of beer in his hands and the girl followed with a similar bottle in hers.

The trailer was nothing special. Grey and rusty with wear and tear. The man climbed up the steps, opened the door, took a swig from the bottle and smirked at the girl, holding the door, waiting for her to enter.

She waited at the foot of the steps, just for a minute and grinned mischievously. She drank the last contents of the bottle, chucked it to the side and climbed up the steps, all the while maintaining fierce eye contact with her host.

The moment she got to him, she brought her right hand to the back of his head, gripped his hair and pulled him into hard, deep and passionate kiss. He kissed back just as savagely, pulling the two of them inside while closing the door to his trailer.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

Its late morning almost afternoon and the ocean front is buzzing with cheers of people, especially kids enjoying the rides. The pier is filled with various amusement rides and food stalls to attract more visitors. The Ferris wheel and carousel being the main attractions. People are standing at the railing overlooking the ocean and basking in the warm sunlight and cool ocean breeze.

The pier is crowded throughout but starts to thin out towards the far end. Situated almost at the far most point is a lone trailer with a red convertible parked outside. The doors and windows shut, as if no one was home.  
Inside however, the bed was occupied by two people, still asleep clearly oblivious to the noise.

"The demons have been increasing their power for a millennia. They are on the verge of controlling mankind." The television screen inside suddenly came to life causing one of the sleeping mass to stir.

"Citizens, we have been kept trapped in a manufactured illusion for too long. We have to wake up." A masked man addressed everyone through a pre-recorded message relayed on the news channel, soon to be replaced by the news anchor.

"The masked lunatic you saw there claims to represent an organization called the Order."

"Now this group has claimed responsibility for several serious attacks in recent weeks. He is undoubtedly a traitor and a terrorist. And I for one am not for the death penalty, so there is only one way to do it... illegally shot the son of a bitch."

"This is Bob Barbas. Just doin' Gods work." the news anchor concluded and the place was filled with the irritating music indicating the end of the news.

The sunlight penetrated through the window blinds and the angel statue atop splitting it before reaching the bed located right at the bottom of the window, shining on the man and woman sleeping side by side. The man sleeping on his left with his arm around the waist of the sleeping woman, nuzzling into her neck while she slept with her cheek on his head. The man lifted his arm and shifted position from his left side to his right releasing the other.

The sudden shift awoke the woman who slowly opened her eyes, not wanting to wake up. She slowly got up; hair all messed up from the activities of last night, sat upright, rubbing her eyes taking in her surroundings.

What she saw was nothing much. A large flat screen placed in between the posters of some band. An arcade game console to her left. A coffee table on the opposite end. Other than that the place was a complete mess. Half empty bottles, cds and open pizza boxes thrown everywhere. She shifted to sit on the edge of the bed and saw clothes flung around with no regards as to where they landed. One of them was her top from last night.

Itwas then that she noticed that except for the white sheet now lying bundled at her waist, she was completely bare. She shook her head in disbelief, "Not again." she grumbled under her breath and turned around to look at the lucky guy.

All she saw was his bare back, a strange tattoo at the nape of his neck surrounded by several scratch marks and the white bed sheet up to his waist. Other than that he seemed to be just as naked as her.

"Hell of a night, right?" she said to herself while getting up to collect her clothes, leaving the sheet on the bed.

She got ready swiftly, wanting to leave before he woke up, not having the patience or interest to deal with the awkward morning after conversation.

She looked around searching for one of her boots, finding it at the foot of the bedside she woke up on she moved quickly to pick it up. In her bid to get to the boot she knocked over a few beer bottles with her foot. She snapped up quickly to look at the bed hoping that he didn't hear it. But the guy barely moved.

'Still knocked out.' She sighed in relief while wearing her boot. Once done she stood up heading straight for the door.

She was at the door when her attention went to the poster to her right. Curiosity got the better of her and with one hand on the door knob; she leaned sideways to get a better look. It was of some electronica band. She couldn't believe it. The guy had similar taste in music to her. She looked back at the sleeping form to check on him and then back to the poster. The date on it caught her eye. The band seemed to be touring the city.

'Maybe I can get a ticket.' She thought and was about to twist the door knob open when a gruff voice fell on her ears.

"Plan on going to the concert?"

"Oh no!" She grumbled under her breath as she turned to look at him.

He was sitting with his legs still spread on the bed, the sheets covering his lower half and leaning back on his hands. He was giving her a sly grin with his eyebrow raised. He waited for her to reply but when she simply stared back, he said, "We could go together if you want."

She couldn't help staring as her brain tried to recollect the face staring back at her. She barely remembered him from last night. After-effects of drinking too much. He was scruffy but handsome looking. It wasn't that she was lost for words but something about him was different. She had sensed it the night before itself but in the fun of it all, had forgotten all about it. But now seeing him again, the feeling had resurfaced.

"What's wrong?" He asked and gave her wide smile as he continued. "Awestruck by what you see?"

She didn't know what to say. Her mind was still trying to figure out what was different about him. So she did the only thing that she could do; stare.

He pulled the sheet along with him as he turned to sit on the edge of the bed. He gave her sly grin and said, "Come on, you have to say something. I can't be that good looking."

She shook her head and looked away in disbelief. The guy according to her first assessment was a conceited and self-absorbed idiot. Talking to such a type was clearly out of question. All she wanted to do at this point was to get out.

"Hey!" He said loudly to get her attention.

"What?" She snapped back.

"So you can speak."

"Yes," This time it was the girl who raised her eyebrows. "And I can also tell when it's the best time to leave."

"Which would be when?"

"Right now."

"You can't leave just yet." He said in sincerity.

"And why not?"

"Cos' we haven't had breakfast yet."

She folded her arms and asked blankly, "What makes you think I'd have breakfast with a guy I barely know?"

"Well, you did go home with the guy who you barely know." He teased.

She straightened up, wanting desperately to end the conversation. "So, you're telling me that every girl you bring home gets treated to this extravagance?"

He gave her a sly smile, "No. You'd be the first."

"Really?" She jerked her head back in surprise. "Wow. I wonder what makes me so special."

"Well, you did stay back till the next morning," He looked out the window. "Make that, the next afternoon."

"Did you say 'afternoon'?" She asked as she gave the window a quick look and got a nod in reply. "So, that makes eating breakfast pointless, don't you think?"

"I'm trying really hard to be nice here," He emphasized on the word 'really'. "Usually, I don't care."

"Then don't," She replied in all honesty. " Cos' seriously, I don't care either. You're making an extra effort for no reason. It's not like we are going to meet each other again. You know that very well. Hell, I don't even know your name."

"Okay, let's start with that then."

She couldn't believe it. It didn't matter what she said or suggested. The guy was just not backing down. Ending this was important and she had to do it now.

"Listen. Last night was fun. So much fun, that I can barely put two and two together. But, I really need to leave."

"If you wait here for a little longer, it'll soon be night and we could have a replay of yesterday all over again." He suggested with a sly grin.

"As tempting as that sounds, I don't want to be greedy. I want other girls to get the full experience as well." She replied as her mouth curled upwards to match his grin.

"Come on!"

She shook her head as she continued to grin and turned around to open the door to step out. Seeing that, the guy swiftly got up and walked towards her in an attempt to stop her. But by the time he got to the door, she was quickly out of the trailer.

"At least tell me where to find you!" He yelled out after her.

She turned around and saw the now bare man standing at the door. She grinned widely and turned back around as she gave him a short wave. Soon she was out of sight and he was left confused and intrigued.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

He dejectedly returned inside, sat on the bed, not believing at what just happened. He had to see her again. He was going back to the club tonight, definitely. He picked up a beer bottle and took a quick sip when suddenly someone banged on the door. 'Changed her mind I bet.' he thought, feeling smug.

"Dante! Get outta there, you're in grave danger!" Spoke a female but different voice.

He forcefully flung open the door, the bright sunlight hurting his eyes and saw a young petite woman, wearing shorts and a purple hoodie staring at him.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he asked. Disappointed that it wasn't the girl from this morning.

"You were careless. You left a trail. Now he is onto you." she said worriedly.

"What are you talking about? Who's onto me?" he questioned.

"A hunter demon." making sure no one else was watching, she whispered. As soon as she said those words, there was a growl in the background, diverting their attention. The ocean rising in large tidal wave causing the people on the pier to stare at it in panic.

"He's here." she gasped.

"D...AAAAN...TE!"

Rising from the ocean, approaching him slowly and menacingly was a large demon with a body similar to any four-legged animal. It had a large head, dark evil eyes and bushy hair.

In one of his four-arms he wielded a claw-like weapon.

Slowly and steadily he moved ahead and the environment started to change. The people around fading out and the pier twisting and turning, transforming into a distorted version of the world they knew. He looked around and saw parts of the pier lift up, portions of buildings detach and slide in and some slide out.

'Fuck! Not again.' he thought while turning to look at the woman who spoke while fading out like the rest.

"Demon scum."

"It's too late. He's dragging you into Limbo. You're gonna have to fight your way out."

He looked back at the demon, "Shit! Back in Limbo." he grumbled giving out a small sigh.

"Bad day for a hangover." he stared at the demon pissing him off.

The demon jumped up on the railing, holding onto one of the street lamps, he flung his claw forward in Dante's direction. With claw flying straight at him, Dante rolled to his left evading only to see it plunging into his trailer.

"Get your filthy, fucking claw off my trailer!" he yelled.

Almost immediately the claw retracted and the demon aimed right back. Sensing its move, Dante lunged right into the trailer, flying through, putting on his tank shirt, pulling up his pants, grabbing onto his boots, gloves in tow and broke right through the rear window, all dressed up and smirking back at the hunter.

"Missed."

The hunter disappeared into the water but thin, lanky looking demons broke through the pier floor, ready to attack him.

Dante turned to look at them, "Time for a little Rebellion." His tattoo glowed and a sword appeared slowly across his back.

The demons lunged forward with their mace-like weapons and Dante drew his sword out in response. Swiping his sword left and right, he sliced through each demon, defeating them in a manner of seconds. He turned to walk away and spotted his guns hanging from the string of lights above. He ran ahead, jumping up on the uneven and jagged surface, flipped in the air, grabbing a gun in each hand, he landed on his feet.

"Ebony, Ivory...missed you girls." he gave a quick nod to each one.

No sooner did he say that, he was surrounded by some small flying minions, aiming fire balls at him.

He aimed his guns at the fire spewing devils, taking them out effectively. He walked away, putting his guns in the waistband of his pants at the back. He felt a slight movement at the back and drew his guns out, taking aim with both.

"Don't shoot!" It was the girl who alerted him. She appeared slightly faded and her voice in a deep echo. She held her hands up in the air, bending at her knees she continued,

"My name is Kat. I 'm not a demon. I am still in the real world. You're in Limbo."

"No. Then how come I can see you clearly." he challenged, dropping one hand and aimed a gun at her with the other turned sideways.

"I am a medium...a...a psychic. I can phase in and out of Limbo and communicate with you." she explained.

"I can see you, talk to you but I am not actually in Limbo with you."

Turning his hand to aim the gun straight at her he asked, "And if I pull the trigger?"

"I'll die." she said softly."I am risking my life for you. I wanna help."

He kept his gun aimed at her, looking at her, not able to decide what to do. She seemed to be just as scared as the rest. But she was still here, hadn't run away. She appeared to be timid and shy and was staring right back hoping he believed her.

He dropped his hand and took a step sideways to leave.

"I don't need your help."

"The hunter has dragged you into Limbo. I can get you out." she persisted.

"I've been down here before and I know how to get out." he replied with anger. "You fight whatever shit-sucking demon dragged you in here."

"You don't wanna fight the hunter. He's not your regular demon." shaking her head she continued on walking past him.

"Follow me. Now!"

He closed his eyes, clearly irritated, turned and followed her unwillingly.  
She directed him through several small pathways, to avoid getting spot by demons. He ran behind her, not completely trusting her, deciding to kill her if she double-crossed him.

Soon they were out in the open near the Ferris wheel and suddenly the hunter smashed through the railings and crawled swiftly towards the Ferris wheel and gave a sharp spin.

Dante's eyes following the hunter the whole time. A red cloth fluttering on one of the carts on the wheel caught his attention.

"Is that my coat?" he wondered. "How did it get up there?" The events of the night before were blurry and he had almost no memory of them.

The hunter gave it a strong smack to the wheel, uprooting it and sending it rolling towards Dante.

Dante jumped right through, lifted his coat and leaped out wearing it.

"Sweet!"

He quickly reached out for his guns and fired at the hunter. However, they had no effect on them. He looked at his guns questioningly.

"That won't work." Kat said walking up next to him.

"Why not?"

"He's bulletproof."

The hunter smashed through several of the stalls savagely, reducing them to pieces.

Dante chided the hunter, "You wanna fight. Let's go!"

"Dante! Wait!"Kat interrupted. She threw a flaming bottle at the hunter's face; the hunter turned his head in pain and gave out an angry growl.

"It's working, you can fight him now. It won't be easy." she said as they watched the hunter lose balance.

"Hunters are brutal fighters."

"So am I." Dante boasted as he drew out his sword, ready to attack.

"Attack its face." Kat advised him.

He swung his sword towards the hunter, slicing and dicing his face. Using his guns to full advantage, he shot at its face as the hunter climbed up the broken Ferris wheel structure.

"Get back here, you piece of shit." Dante shouted as he shot the pole below the hunter's foot causing the pole to tilt and make him lose balance and fall. Dante attacked the hunter's face with all his strength, not giving him a chance to gain his composure.

Finally, it collapsed to the ground, laying on his side with his head towards Dante.

"Game over." grinned Dante standing tall over him, his sword blade resting on his shoulder.

"Son of Sparda." the hunter spoke slowly in a deep gruff voice.

"Son of who?" asked Dante.

"You have been found. So has she. You are dead just like your whore mother." it spat venomously.

"Whore mother? Well I don't know my mother. But if you are calling me a son of a bitch - you wouldn't be the first."

Dante replied while striking him with his sword, killing the demon.

"My mother..." Dante said under his breath sadly clutching onto his pendant. "...I barely remember her."

Dante slowly walked away from the, now completely destroyed pier. The people in total panic mode, scared to death. It wasn't the first time he had been attacked by demons or his home was destroyed and he became homeless. But it was the first time the demon had spoke to him, given him a clue.

'Son of Sparda. You have been found. So has she.'

The demon's voice rang in his ears.

It was clear to him that the demon spoke about him but still he wondered. 'Who was Sparda? And who was "she"? Who else had been found?'

He shook his head and continued walking, watching the police cars race by him going in the opposite direction towards the pier. He was trying to figure out what to do next when a car stopping near him caught his attention. It was Kat, the girl who alerted him outside his trailer.

"Are you okay, Dante?" she enquired.

"How do you know my name?" he asked back, head still facing forward.

"My boss knows you. He wants to meet. Please. I helped you back there." she pleaded trying to convince him.

He turned to look at her, leaning on the window edge, "I didn't ask for your help."

She looked away staring forward, hands on the steering wheel, waiting for his move. After a moment's hesitation, Dante got into the car and motioned her to drive.

As they drove away she explained further, "We know all about you, Dante. I'm with an organization called the Order. Heard of it?"

"Something to do with that masked freak on the net?" he asked.

"That's my boss."

"Wonderful. Can't wait."

As they drove by, all the TV monitors across the city showed the destruction of the pier as breaking news. The news anchor reported, "We're just receiving reports of a terrorist attack that has taken place at the Bellevue pier in the western district of the city. Police have asked the people to remain vigilant as further terror attacks could take place anywhere, at anytime and when you least expect it."

After driving through the most deserted of roads, they arrived to an equally deserted building. Entering through a metal gate they came stop at what seemed to be a dilapidated building with signs wear clearly visible. They got out of the car and stopped near the entrance.

"Welcome to the Order." said Kat.

Dante gave a once over to the structure and said, "Not what I was expecting."

"That's the idea." she said as they bent downwards entering through the half open shutters.

"The demons are amongst us, Dante, they are enslaving mankind." she said walking towards the wall at the opposite end.

"The world is asleep, brainwashed and helpless." She then pressed her thumb into the wall and out popped an electronic identification lock that scanned her eye, sliding open the concealed door.

"We're fighting back."

The close circuit camera zoomed in on them as they entered. Walking behind Kat, through a dimly lit passage, Dante took in the surroundings while paying attention to what she said.

"We are a small handful of freedom fighters. We are the last and only line of defense."

"Defense? You got no chance!" he quipped as they came to room filled with computers with people busy working on them. Too busy to notice that they were even there.

"We don't leave things to chance. We've accumulated vast intelligence on the demons and their collaborators." she defended.

"...world leaders, bankers, pop stars...we can hit 'em where it hurts."

They soon came into another room, darker than the previous one. On the mantel in the center was the mask, the mask that the guy on the net wore. And standing beyond it was the man himself, face shrouded by a shadow waiting for them, well waiting for him.

"Amazing...!" he spoke as Dante slowly walked towards him.

"Dante-it really is you?" he questioned.

Dante replied with a small shrug as if to say 'Who else were you expecting?'

"You don't remember me?" he asked further.

"No!" Dante replied swiftly not really bothering with this conversation.

"How much of your childhood do you remember?" the man went on.

Dante couldn't believe it. 'She said this guy knows all about me. What a load of bull!'

"Not much - had meningitis when I was seven, wiped my memory - why?" Dante probed.

The man laughed, "They told me I had a car accident that resulted in total amnesia. Age - seven."

Dante shrugged and asked, "Your point?"

"Meningitis is a human affliction. You are not human, Dante." he said as he came into the light. That's when Dante saw his face.

It was as if he was staring into a mirror. The same face, same nose, same height - everything was the same except for the hair. He had light blonde hair combed away from his face. He wore a long black jacket and black pants with black boots. He held some sort of cane in his hands.

"All war has been fought with deception and you have been deceived. Your past has been kept hidden from you for a reason."

He spoke as if to convince Dante of something and that was all he could take before interrupting the man.

"Rewind the bit - Who are you again?"

"My name is Vergil." the man said. "I established the Order to help find a way to fight the demons."

"Besides swords and bullets, you mean?" Dante questioned.

"Such weapons can win battles but not the war. We use force, yes. But we also use intelligence, politics, propaganda."

He explained almost preaching making Dante smirk and ask,"You really believe that you can make a dent?"

"Make a dent?" Vergil said swerving sideways looking at Dante. "With the two of us working together, I believe that we can defeat them!"

Dante suddenly came to realize what Vergil wanted from him and replied, "So that's what this is about. You need me to fight the demons, help you save the world."

"What else were you planning on doing with your life?" challenged Vergil.

Dante gave a fake smile and tried to get his way out of the situation.

"Well, you guys do seem nice but I'm more of a loner type; trust issues, work alone - that type of thing."

Kat couldn't take it anymore, she had to do something and so moving forward she pitched in, " Dante, I don't think you understand what's at stake here..."

Vergil stopped her with a wave of his hand, still facing Dante.

"If you want to leave - turn your back on me, I am powerless to stop you." Vergil pushed ahead with his view still trying to convince. "But you'd be making a grave mistake. Not just for you, but for mankind."

"For mankind? What makes you think I give a shit?"

Dante spat making Kat jerk her head up, not believing that he didn't care about the world he lived in and the people that lived in it.

Vergil decided to give one last shot, "At least give me a chance to show you."

"Show me what?"

"Who you really are."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

It was mid afternoon the next day when they drove into a huge gateway with words ' Paradise' written at the top. The birds were there so were the trees but no people. They came to halt at a large but empty stone mansion. It looked like it suffered severe wear and tear over the years. The weather definitely got to it.

'Damn, that's a big house.' Dante thought.

They walked into the mansion looking around. The whole place was empty, everything was destroyed. The window panes all broken and the wind blowing through making the red curtains that were in tatters flutter.

They stopped at a spot in the arched passage way. Vergil looked ahead at the colored glass arch and spoke, "This was your home."

Dante walked ahead and stood next to Vergil, taking in his surroundings.

"I don't remember it."

"You will. Kat, open the gateway."

On hearing Vergil's command, Kat nodded and pulled out a stencil from the pack on her back and bent down to spread it out on the floor. She then brought out the spray can from her belt, shook the can and started to spray a white colored powder on into, slowly transferring the design on the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"Our world and Limbo are very closely super positioned. They collide in places causing what we call rifts." she explained while carefully spraying. "It is here in the rifts where we can create gateways through and from Limbo."

Dante stooped down to her level to examine the design and spray. He swiped some of the powder on the outside and brought it to his nose to smell it. He quickly turned away in disgust. 'It was awful.'

"Doesn't smell too good! What's in the can?" he asked nodding towards the spray can.

She explained while rolling the stencil close, "A compound I created using an old Wiccan recipe. Sea salt. Shark oil. Iron shavings, desiccated squirrel semen, wolf hair..."

"Good stuff." Dante interrupted her and stood up while wiping his hand on her shoulder.

"Go ahead. The house holds secrets. I found mine. Now it's your turn." Vergil said directing his hands to the design on the floor.

Dante stepped onto it and asked, "How will I get back?"

"We'll take care of that. Just be careful, it can get rough in there." He warned.

Dante looked Kat, smirking as he faded away and stated flirtingly, " I like it rough." making her blush and look away.

As soon as he disappeared, Kat asked Vergil "Is this really going to work? He doesn't seem to care."  
"He is raw. Just like you were when I first found you."

Dante looked ahead as he saw Vergil, Kat and the mansion around him fade away in the background only to be replaced by a slightly distorted, colorful version of itself. He looked around and started walking towards the room at the end of the passage.

It was a large hall with an enormous grand double staircase at the center. The interior was dark wooden and very rich. Marble floor adorned with inlay work, high ceilings with remains of luxurious looking chandeliers, huge windows with colored glass arches at the top. It looked royal. Dante couldn't believe that this used to be a home.

"So this was my home. Well, show me your secrets." he muttered walking towards the staircase.  
He climbed up the stairs taking the left side first; he walked ahead through the corridors shaking his head while thinking 'What the hell am I supposed to be doing exactly?'

He came to stop at a large wood carved door. Curiously he pushed it open, the large door grunted as it opened to reveal another large room.

It had the same large windows and tattered curtains, intricate moldings on the wall. On the wall opposite to where he was standing stood a large painting of a man in red armor his hands holding a sword standing and a shield placed ahead, his face was obscured by a sharp cut.

As Dante stepped further to get a clearer picture he felt as though he knew this place. He had been here before.

'I remember this place.'

His mind started visually filling up the gaps in the room. It used to be a library. Large book shelves, huge chandeliers, flowing rich red curtains, rich carpet, velvet covered chairs and couches and warm sunlight filled the room.

He came up to the painting, looking at the man said loudly, "And who the hell are you?" before his eyes came to rest on the nameplate at the bottom that said 'Sparda'

"Sparda..." he read out loud.'Son of Sparda!' The hunter's words echoed in his head.

"My dad!"

As soon as he said so, a circular molding below the nameplate started to glow a deep red. He moved closer to examine it and couldn't resist touching it. The glowing red spot gave him a sudden jolt the minute he touched it growing from his fingers right up to his arms causing him to scream in agony.

"Agggghhhhhh!"

On his back appeared a glowing red scythe like weapon that soon disappeared along with the jarring pain in his arm.

"Hell ya!" he exclaimed but soon was surrounded by demons that broke through the ground ready to attack him.

He swiftly started to attack them instead, using his sword. Slicing and dicing them without hesitation or second thought. He was so caught up in fighting them that he failed to notice the higher level demon carrying a sword and holding up a shield sneaking behind him. The demon raised his sword and swung at Dante's back making him yell out in pain. Dante quickly turned around and struck the demon with his newly acquired weapon. The demon fell back in shock, his shield holding arm up in the air, leaving him exposed for attack. Dante swung his scythe upwards, killing the demon effectively.

"Ah! Sneaky little bastard!"

He walked out of the room and out of the corridor towards the staircase. As he was about to head to the opposite side he heard giggling, and looked ahead and saw two small hazy figures running and shouting in happiness, their voice echoing in the surroundings.

'Hahaha, woo!'

The two figures were of two boys one with dark hair and one with blond. They ran ahead in the corridor stopped and started a playful sparring session with wooden.

"This way, Dante." the blond one spoke.

"Ok, Raaar! Hahaha, can't catch me." replied the other playfully. He turned around and ran right through a closed door, the blond boy ran behind him, disappearing too.

Dante followed them breaking the door with his red scythe entering into what looked like a children's bedroom.

The room was just like the other rooms in the house. But what made it different was the small bed at the corner. Dante saw the two boys crawl into the underside of the bed, still playing with each other.

A feeling of recognition washed over him as he walked to the bed his curiosity getting the better of him.

"That was me! I remember this!"

He bent down and checked under the bed and saw a small child's shield. He pulled it out to examine it in the light and was taken aback by what he saw.

It was a red shield used for training small children nothing special but what caught his attention was the design on it. It was the same as the tattoo on his back.

'How did they find us? Run my love.'

A female voice echoed through the area diverting his attention towards it. He saw a woman's hazy figure running through a closed door. He dropped the shield and ran behind her and broke through the door.

It was a room like the others but on the wall to his left was a woman's painting. She was beautiful, red hair, fair skinned, wearing a purple dress holding a red flower and smiling. The painting startled Dante.

"Is that...Mom?"

The pendant around her neck caught his attention and a feeling of vague recognition washed over him as heard her voice in his head.

'I love you, Dante.'

The circular molding at the bottom of her picture started to glow blue. And as he touched he felt the same jolt as he had felt before as he acquired a blue scythe.

Just like last time several demons broke through the floor steadying themselves for attack. They were in large numbers and surrounded him quickly. Dante whipped out the blue scythe and swirled it around taking out several demons in one go. 'This is awesome!' he thought as he took out a few more the same way. He saw one demon trying to slink away but he surged forward with his sword and sliced right through him.

Dante looked around and saw something fallen on the floor. It was a photo frame. He picked it up and saw the picture still intact. It was a family picture. He recognized himself, his father, mother and his...brother. His memory jolted back completely, the pictures flashing through his head, remembering the pendant in his neck.

'I remember...'

'I remember my mother, her name was Eva. She gave this to me. I had a brother too.'

'We were a family.'

'I had no idea of the danger we were in. The demons found us.'

'When they broke in, I saw him.'

'She gave her life so that we could escape. I will never forget what he did to her.'

'Our father, Sparda took my brother and I away.'

'He separated us, hid us safely amongst the humans, wiped our memories to protect us.'

'That's why it all went black...until now.'

The frame dropped from Dante's hand, breaking on impact to the floor, jolting him back to reality. He felt the house shake suddenly, the floor began to separate into pieces, some portions tilted heavily and the walls began to close in on him. Pieces of plaster, brick and stone were flying everywhere. He had to make back to the rift.

"I am gettin' outta here." he said as he started running ahead.

Avoiding the gaps between the floor was tough but he kept on moving forward. Sliding down the tilted parts he came to the rift, glowing in a weird yellow tint. He quickly jumped onto it, bent on one knee and everything around him started to fade. Soon he saw Vergil, Kat and the real world slowly come into vision. It was almost dark outside and he was back home.

Vergil stared at Dante waiting for a response, hoping that he had made some sort of progress. Dante got up, looking at Vergil with new eyes and understanding.

"You're my brother." he said.

Vergil replied stepping ahead closer, " Your twin brother. I have been looking for you for a long time now."

He brought his hands to the neck of his jacket and brought out a pendant similar to Dante's, only difference was, it was blue.

He said, "Our mother gave these to us. I think she knew this moment would come. That we would find each other."

Dante asked, " And our father, Sparda?"

"Banished forever. A fate worse than death, they say. He's never coming back." Vergil replied grimly.

Dante turned away in slight sorrow but turned back to look at his brother," I wanna know more. Where we come from, what happened to us. And above all, I wanna know who is responsible for all this."

"You will know in due time, Dante. But right now you have to get to her." Vergil stated gravely.

"Her?" Dante questioned, frowning. This is the second time someone had mentioned a 'her' to him.

"Yes. They have set several demon collaborators on her tail and a hunter demon after her just like with you." he pressed ahead." You must get to her before the demon gets there and drags her into Limbo."

"The hunter at the pier spoke about 'her' too. Who is this girl? And why does she have these demons on her ass?" Dante asked annoyingly, completely irritated by the ambiguity of 'her' identity.

"Her name is Rayven Mayors. As for the demons, we will find out once we get her to safety." explained Vergil.

"And what makes you think I will do this for you?" Dante asked." I just met you."

"Once you see who it is, I highly doubt you will protest.", Vergil smirked in reply.

"Not a chance."

"This should jog your memory." Vergil said handing him a photograph. Dante took it and recognized her immediately, not believing his luck.

"You're kidding, right?" Dante questioned.

"Nope. Kat will go with you. She knows where to find her." Kat nodded in response and started moving towards the exit to get the car ready.

Dante was about to follow Kat when Vergil warned him, "Dante, this is important. If they are after her then it means that she is a threat to them, someone they fear. We must save her."

Dante shook his head in disbelief and asked, "Then why aren't you coming too?"

"I can't. I will explain everything but...right now, just get to her." he pleaded.

He nodded as he waved back at Vergil and walked out to the car where Kat was waiting for him.  
Vergil saw them drive away, hoping they get to Rayven in time. He had tracked both Dante and Rayven for quite some time now. It had been difficult and tiring but necessary. One half, Dante was here and the other half remained. A lot of puzzles needed to be resolved before they plunged ahead and one of the biggest was her.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

The dark of the night arrived and the city was glistening in lights. Cars racing to reach their destination. The young all out prowling the streets in search of fun. Their sounds and laughs filling the streets as they passed by. A young woman walks up the steps to her apartment building and on reaching the door senses something and turns around to look. She sees an old woman walking her dog pass by, a young teenager talking loudly on his phone, people crossing the street and cars driving by, all things normal. Satisfied she turns and opens the door, disappearing into the foyer.

Up on the seventh floor of the building a door unlocks and the young woman walks in the apartment and bolts the door behind her. She had been out for a while and had returned home at a time much closer to midnight. She was never home this early. Well, many times she had never returned until the next day. So this was new.

She threw her hooded tan leather jacket on the couch, hooks her phone to the charger on the table nearby and walks through the corridor to her bedroom. She opened her closet, traded her dark jeans and top for a pair of brown shorts and a white tank. She walked to the bathroom to clean up, getting ready to call it a night.

In the bathroom, she picked up the toothbrush and just as she was about to bring it to her mouth, caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

She saw nothing different, same face, same green eyes, dark brown hair, lips, but still something was off. There was a change, a feeling of something amiss, she couldn't seem to put finger on it. It had been bugging her all day.

"What's wrong with me?" she muttered, leaning closer to the mirror trying to spot it.

She was jolted out of her thoughts as her cell phone started to ring. She dropped her brush in the wash basin and hurried bare feet into the living room to take the call. Picking it up, her face lit up on recognizing the caller name.

"You don't have to check up on me every day, you know." she spoke.

A male voice speaking in an English accent replied angrily, "Normal people say 'Hello' on the phone. Are those the manners I taught you growing up, my dear? I believe you know better."

"Sorry, Cuthbert. It's just that I am 22 years old, I don't need you to treat me like I am 10 anymore." she sat on the single seater sofa and tried to make him understand.

"Well, you will always be a child to me, Miss." the man simply stated. " And may I ask as to what do I owe the privilege of having my call received on the first go itself?"

"Really, Cuthbert. I pick up and this is what you say." she said shifting the phone from her right ear to left and her right arm on the armrest.

"I am right though."

She laughed and replied, "Well, I came home early today." her arm fidgeting with the fabric of the couch, the soft light from outside making the tattoo on her wrist gleam.

"Early? My dear, you came home the same day! Are you alright?"

"Yeah..." she smirked and said slowly " it's been a rough couple of days."

"Are you hurt? Are you safe? Haven't been in a fight, I hope. Please tell me your fine, Rayven!" He bombarded her with questions, the fear in his voice making her smile.

" I am alright, Cuthbert. Just going through a phase I bet. Really I am fine." she tried to convince him.

"If you say so." he sighed." You can always come home you know. It is yours."

" I can't right now. You know that." she tried to reason with him.

"I am worried about you, remember that. And I hope you change your mind soon. Good night, darling. Don't forget, I love you. And take care." he replied with hope in his voice.

"Good night, Cuthbert. Love you too. "She said and pressed her phone close.

She looked around her apartment. It was quite extravagant for her liking, but Cuthbert had not paid heed to her objections. Instead he made her buy it, not expecting her to go against his wish. She got up and retired to her bedroom trying to get some sleep at least.

Down below, the old woman and the teenager from earlier stared upwards to her window, their eyes dark. The teenager brought his cell phone to his ears and spoke slurryly into it, "She is here."

Two hours later, she shifted positions on the bed once more not feeling comfortable in any angle. Sleep evaded her and it irritated her but she kept her eyes closed shut, trying to force herself to sleep. She shifted again and slept on her left side making the bed creak as she moved. She opened her eyes suddenly, not because of the creak but because of the soft thud that followed it. Someone was inside.

She got up from her bed quickly and moved towards the bedroom door. Carefully trying not to make any sudden movement she walked slowly and steadily ahead. Keeping her eyes straight and ears sharp keeping track of every movement and sound she surged forward. She saw into the living room, lights still out, a small breeze bellowed the curtains.

She slowly moved to the main door and looked into the eye hole. As her attention was concentrated towards the door, she failed to notice a demon slinking close to her. It had a menacing look and it slowly crept towards her and raised to its full height, drawing out its mace to attack her.

Bang!

The demon flew backwards in the corridor, screeching in pain as a bullet shot right through its chest. It collapsed near the opening to the living room, its dropped head slowly raised upwards trying to assess what happened. It cracked its neck to the side at what it saw.

A gun pointed straight at it, the hand completely steady, finger pressed against the trigger ready to take a shot.

"Did you really think I was that stupid?" Rayven chided it.

It quickly got to its feet and sprung to its left, escaping into the living room.

"Hey! Get back here!" Rayven yelled while running after it. She entered the living room to see that the demon was facing the window as if it were calling out to someone. And in the background she heard a low grunting sound that grew louder by the minute. Everything around her started to shift and change as she got dragged into Limbo. The walls shifted positions forward and backwards, the floor became jagged and suddenly something clamped onto the wall opposite to her.

"What the..."

The wall suddenly broke away only to reveal a savage looking hunter demon staring at her from the roof of the building on the opposite street. It gave out a loud growl.

Moving forward slowly, it flung its claw forward trying to clasp onto her but she ducked away from it, her gun slipping away from hand and its claw caught onto the back wall and the demon started dragging a chunk of it away as it retreated its claw.

"Hey! Stop fucking up my apartment." Rayven yelled at it as she got up.

The hunter demon roared and jumped sideways disappearing from view. At that very instant several demons broke through the floorboards to join the one already present in her living room and she was completely surrounded. She dropped her head down shaking it, she looked up at them not lifting up her head, her hands to side.

The demons started to jerk forward to attack but she remained calm. The tattoo on her wrist began to glow and a light blue almost white sword slowly materialized in her hand. Once the sword was firmly gripped by her she said, "You guys broke into the wrong place."

She leaped forward swiping her sword efficiently and beheaded the demon closest to her. The remaining demons screeched in response and charged forward determined to defeat her. But she was faster, lunging forward she attacked them with all her might. Striking them with each blow, she left none alive.

"Now that's how you welcome guests!" she exclaimed at the end.

But the ordeal was not over as several more demons appeared through the floor and surrounded her. Each giving out long squeals and screams as they waited for her move.

"With that voice, I hope you guys don't sing." she teased them and soon they jumped ahead in attack mode.

Several of them had shields and she found it harder to strike them but she didn't give up. Many of them collapsed but more took their place. Soon it was her in the middle surrounded by them, trapped. The ones with the swords surrounded her and the flying ones took firm aim. One demon stepped forward to attack but his attention was diverted when the demon next to him collapsed suddenly in pain. This distraction gave Rayven the opportunity to strike and kill it. She continued her attack but also noticed someone else in the room fighting the demons with her.

Not wanting to slow her pace, she continued to fight the demons, the other person continued to do the same. Soon she defeated them and turned her attention to the mystery man who was firing at the last flying demon with his guns. A gun slipped from his hands, falling backwards as the demon threw a fire ball at him, only for it to be shot at with the other. Rayven saw her chance and tumbled over her head and picked up the fallen gun and aimed at the intruder as he turned around.

"Whoa!" he yelled in surprise as he saw one of his guns aimed at him.

As he turned Rayven recognized him," You!"

"Yeah. Me." Dante replied smirking at her giving her a once over. She was covered in blood and dirt but still looked gorgeous. 'And those shorts...' he thought as he continued to smirk and settled his eyes to hers.

"Are you following me now?" she questioned him, her eyes locked with his, her arm still holding the gun aimed at him.

"Hate to be a buzz kill but its kinda hard to track a girl down when she doesn't give you her name or number." he said still smirking.

"Then what are you doing here?" she asked.

"How about, saving your ass?"

"I had it under control as you can see." she said calmly and nodding at the gun in her hands and smirking said, "And I still do."

Dante grinned at her and said." Well, I have to say, it's not every day that I have my own gun aimed at my face. I'm impressed."

"There's a first time for everything, right?" she chided.

"True, but I still have a finger wrapped around the trigger of my other gun." he lifted his right hand up for her to see the black gun. "But your face is too pretty to mess up. I know that it won't be easy. And you will most definitely, hit me." he chided.

"Who knows, you might like it." she teased.

"Hmm...open minded, I like that. But how 'bout you hand Ivory over, we kick some hunter ass and then decide who spanks who." he suggested.

"Ivory?"

"Her." he pointed to the gun in her hand.

She looked at it and asked, "Why do you wanna help me? And how do you know where I live?"

"That's not important right now. We gotta kill that demon pet first." he said pointing his gun to the demon standing at the hole in the living room.

She turned quickly to look at, gritted her teeth and asked," What the hell is that thing?"

"It's a hunter demon." A female voice spoke. Rayven turned to see a petite woman standing next to her with a flaming bottle in her hands. She looked fuzzy like she was not all there.

"It's here to kill you."

"Why?" Rayven asked.

"Now is not the time." she replied as she flung the bottle at the demon. It started to groan in agony and lost balance. As it tried to gain composure it caused more damage to structure and portions fell to the ground below.

"My place is getting fucked up. That thing is annoying." Rayven yelled annoyingly.

"Let's put it outta its misery then. Attack its face, will ya." Dante said to Rayven as he pulled out his sword from his back, ready to attack.

"Let's go, puppy."

Rayven nodded agreeing with him, did the same and lunged forward.

They both swiped ahead, striking with each blow and working in complete co-ordination. If one struck with the sword the other shot at it with the gun and the other way round. Left and right they attacked in perfect synchronization. The hunter stood no chance, it fell to its side breathing heavily.

As they both walked towards the demon, swords still held firmly in their hands, the hunter spoke in a deep voice.

"You have found one another."

"No shit, genius." Dante spat.

"Son of Sparda and the spawn of the bastard. You both will die..." it slowly groaned further.

"Bastard parents? Never met them but you can meet yours." she said as she brought her sword down on it, killing it swiftly.

The environment came back to normal and she turned to look at the two strangers in her now destroyed apartment and said, "Will someone explain to me what the hell is going on?"

"Only after you hand me my gun."

Rayven handed the gun 'Ivory' back to Dante, who then walked up to the other end, checking to see if they were in the clear. Rayven walked over towards the hole in the wall. She saw all the debris fallen on the street below and people staring upwards in horror.

"They think it's another terrorist attack." the girl said to her while she looked down at the street.

"And why is that?" Rayven asked.

"My boss can explain it better. My name is Kat, I work for the Order." she said.

"That masked freak on the net?" Rayven asked to which Dante smirked and laughed softly.

"That would be my boss. He wants to help which is why he sent us." she continued to explain. "You have to come with us."

"And why would I do that? For all I know you guys bought these things with you." Rayven challenged.

Dante said, "You got a point. But would you rather wait here and try explaining to the cops what happened and hope they believe you or just leave."

Rayven thought about what he said and made a quick decision.

"Where to?"

"Someplace safe." Dante replied." I will go get the car ready. See ya downstairs. Be quick." And he walked out of the apartment without waiting for her reply. It was as though he knew she would not reply in the negative, not any more at least.

Rayven looked at Kat and pondered for a second not knowing what to say. Kat kept looking back at her, waiting.

"Ok, let's go!" Rayven said as she picked up her boots and jacket which laid scattered all over. She put on her jacket and then the boots as she walked out with Kat following her.

As she walked out of the building, she saw several people still crowded on the street staring at the destruction. She looked around and saw Dante waiting in the car, ready to speed out. Kat got into the back seat and as Rayven was about to get into the passenger seat, she turned to give her apartment one last look.

She saw sheer mess and destruction, her home was completely damaged. At certain places, there was smoke coming out of the windows indicating a fire in there somewhere and several wires sparked as they shorted. She could hear the police and ambulance sirens in the background when her thought was interrupted.

"Are you coming or what, babe?" Dante yelled. "We don't wanna get caught now, do we?"

She nodded and gave the building one last look in sorrow, turned back and got in the car and they sped away.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Back at Silver Sacks tower, Kyle sat on his chair hands on the large table as he watched the news which spoke about the 'terrorist attacks' on two most highly populated areas in the city, the pier and the apartment building downtown. Lilith sat next to him on the table, her hand on his shoulder.

His demon collaborators gave him the entire account of what happened. He was infuriated when he heard that the destruction was caused by the very two people he wanted dead.

"I sent two of my best hunters after them and yet they escaped." he shouted angrily as he pounded on the table. Lilith jerked in response and tried to pacify him.

"Darling, the fact that they have been found, isn't that important too."

"Yes..."he said slowly, grinning evilly and spoke through his teeth, "We have your scent, and now it's only a matter of time."

* * *

A black hatchback car sped through the highway at full speed. The road with no traffic to speak of. The sky glowed a slight grayish blue, showing just a hint of the approaching dawn. Inside the car, the mood was somber. No one in the mood to talk, they just looked ahead staring blankly at the road.

Kat had closed her eyes, wanting to get a bit of rest. The day had been long and tiring for her. The activities at the pier, then the mansion and the building had drained her. Rest was a luxury not available so easily to their kind and she planned to make most of what she got.

The silence was killing Dante, not being the quiet type he turned to look at the girl next to him wanting to start a conversation. He saw the very pretty face he met a night ago but tonight it was something different. Instead of the sexy look from the club, she had a hard blank look.

"Are you ok?" he asked. She gave no reply. Concerned that she was upset about her house he said, "One of those took out my trailer too, you know. That's what they do."

She sighed as she replied, "It's not the first time I've lost a home."

Sadly she rested her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes."Just thought I'd be used to it by now."

Dante stared at her in wonder; she was so calm about this. 'More to her than meets the eye.' he thought and turned to pay attention on the road as the dawn broke.

Rayven jerked and woke up as the car came to a halt. They got of the car and started walking towards the shutters with Kat leading the way. They had arrived at the Order, an old building with paint tearing off.

"This is the Order." Kat said.

Rayven observed the exterior, memorizing it almost and replied, "I was expecting something a bit more...dramatic." Dante smirked, couldn't believe it. This girl was too good to be true.

"We want our location to be secret." defended Kat.

"It's a secret alright." Rayven sighed as they came to the hidden entry.

Kat unlocked the electronic lock walked in, not wanting to waste any more time. Dante followed her but stopped at the door and turned to look at Rayven, smirked and said, "Ladies first!"

Rayven looked at him, without reacting just walked in and Dante followed her, observing her from behind.

She took in the surroundings, the people, the computers and the equipment. And as they came close to the room at the end, she asked Dante, "So, how's the view?"

"View?" Dante said. His thoughts clearly interrupted.

"Yeah, view." she said turning around, her attention at the TV screens. "The only time a guy says 'Ladies first' is when he wants to check out the girl's ass." She explained further, looked at him straight in the eye and asked again, "So, how is it?"

Dante grinned, not believing her straightforwardness and replied, "I have to say, it's the best I've seen."

She smiled back and as they entered the room said, "You look like you've seen a lot, so I'll take that as a compliment."

Just as Dante was about to retort, Kat came into the room with Vergil right behind. Their attention diverted towards them. Kat stopped and with her hands behind her back waited for Vergil to address the two.

And as he came into view, Rayven's eyes grew wide, she thought she was seeing double.

"My name is Vergil. I have been searching for you for a long time. You have no idea how hard it was to track you down." he said smiling at her.

"You guys are twins!" she said as she turned to look at Dante who was now half sitting on the centre table.

"Yes. I suppose Dante failed to mention that fact." he said.

"Who's that?" Rayven simply stated.

"Ahem!" Dante cleared his throat and stared at her.

"You're Dante?"

He got up and with his right hand stretched out for a shake said, "We haven't been formally introduced. I am Dante."

"Rayven." she said as she gave her hand in his for a handshake.

"Do you usually spend the night with guys not knowing their name?" he asked her teasingly.

"I could ask you the same." she asked accusingly. 'God! Guys have such double standards.' She thought.

"Usually I am not that interested in knowing their names."

"I don't care either."

"But you're the exception."

"For me, you still aren't."

Kat and Vergil were mere spectators at this point. Vergil closed his eyes and just as Dante was about reply spoke, "Enough of the verbal war, please. We have work to do."

"Yeah. Why am I here?" Rayven asked.

"And what about our parents?" Dante chipped in.

"For that we need to make a visit." Vergil said as he turned around and started moving towards the exit. Kat followed him quickly, motioning them to follow as well.

Rayven looked back at Dante and said, "You know, I need my hand back at some point."

She looked down at their hands, still held in a handshake and Dante smirked back and let it go. She smiled and they both started walking towards the exit.

Vergil and Kat took seat at the front with Kat taking the wheel. Dante and Rayven sat at the back, not knowing where they were headed. Vergil sat regally at the passenger seat, gazing at the passing sights and contemplating his next move. Finding them had not been easy, but Dante being his brother was easier in comparison. His inner self was drawn to Dante's location. But finding her was a stroke of luck. If Dante hadn't met her at the club, they would have never found her.

He gave her a quick look in the side mirror and found himself not able to take his eyes away. The same way in which he couldn't take his eyes away when Kat had showed him a picture of her taken at the pier. Her beauty had encapsulated him and something about her drew him to her. 'Her eyes, her scent, her lips...what he would give to kiss them just once?' He shook his head as he tried to push that thought away from his mind. He had to focus on the bigger task at hand and looked forward to the road, only to find himself staring at her reflection again.

Dante on the other hand was shamelessly giving her a look every other minute. He knew he shouldn't but getting caught staring at her was very rewarding. She would realize that he was staring and would look back at him and stare back. Her intoxicating green eyes drove him wild. 'What is it about her?' he thought. It was the same feeling as it had been at the club and he was fighting with his inner self to remain unfazed.

Rayven was fighting an inner battle of her own. When she had met Dante at the club, it had been electric, a feeling she found hard to describe. But she felt a similar kind of pull towards Vergil. Both men she barely knew. And the fact that they were not just brothers but twins created a conflict in her mind that was beyond explanation. Her mind kept bouncing between the two. 'The same yet so different.' she thought.

They came to stop at a children's playground. It was in complete dire straits, unkempt and dirty. Harsh graffiti adorned the once clean painted walls. It was almost a dump yard. The only sign that it used to be playground was by the park benches and a bunch of games still left standing to rust. They got out and observed the place. It was very close to the centre of the city and the Silver Sacks tower was in clear vision, its glass exterior gleaming in the morning sun.

Vergil led Dante and Rayven into the park and Kat waited back at the car, knowing that Vergil would want some privacy and the fact that she already knew the story he was about to reveal to the other two. She really hoped that they would believe in Vergil and join forces. He had been her rescuer and mentor. She looked up to him; she wanted to be like him.

At the park, Vergil walked ahead of the two and coming towards the middle turned and asked Dante, "Do you remember this place?"

Dante, still looking around felt a sense of déjà vu as he replied," Yeah, I remember coming here."

Vergil smiled, "Our mother used to bring us here."

"Tell me everything."

Rayven looked at Dante. She was curious too, though unknown to this place. She wanted to know more about the two and all she could do was listen.

They walked side by side as Vergil started to explain, "Some things have always been. There have always been angels; there have always been demons. And they have always been at war."

"Nine millennia ago, one demon rose through the ranks to take power over the dark hordes: the strongest, the cruelest - Mundus."

As they came towards the swings, Vergil continued as Dante leaned with his arms resting on the top bar of the swing and Rayven with her arms crossed leaned against the side one, listening intently.

"But Mundus didn't rise alone. At his right hand was his most trusted lieutenant, his blood brother..."

"Sparda." Dante said, almost reading Vergil's mind.

Vergil shook his head in the affirmative, "But Sparda betrayed him. He fell in love with an angel, Eva."

"The secret union between angel and demon was inconceivable."

"But it happened. And with it came new life - twin boys, you and I: a hybrid between the warring angel and demon races." he continued as he sat on the park bench.

"When Mundus learned of Sparda's betrayal, his fury knew no limits. He hunted the lovers down."

Rayven stood, rooted to her place in shock and closed her eyes. The thought of being hunted down seemed to refresh her past memories.

"Eva was murdered by his own hand. And for Sparda he demanded a more brutal fate: endless punishment and pain."

They started walking through the arched corridor to the exit of the playground and Vergil continued on.

"But even as Eva was destroyed and Sparda was imprisoned for eternity; each knew that a seed for their revenge had already been sown."

"Because according to legend the only beings that can slay the demon king are nephilim, a hybrid of angel and demon." he explained.

"Those hybrids now exist: you and I."

Dante kept looking at Vergil; he was simply listening to what he was saying not wanting to interrupt. Rayven did the same, completely engrossed in the tale of Sparda and Eva.

Vergil turned around and started leading them towards the exit, knowing in complete certainty that he had their undivided attention.

"Mundus believed that only one child was born, but there were two nephilim and each had been hidden well."

"Sparda armed his sons: the Rebellion for Dante, the Yamato for Vergil."

It was at this point that Dante decided to speak, "So Mundus killed our Mom and imprisoned our Dad?"

"Yes."

"And we're the offspring of angels and demons?"

"Demon father. Angel mother. We are nephilim. The only ones that can slay the demon king."

"Good. How?"

But before Vergil could respond, Rayven couldn't help but butt in.

"Let me get this straight. You are brothers. And your parents were wronged by an evil demon king. The only ones capable of killing this...Mundus are you two. And that's exactly what he thinks, right?"

Vergil nodded in the affirmative. Rayven sighed and asked, "Well, then what does it have to do with me?"

Vergil appeared flustered as he tried to think of a way to explain the situation. He looked away and he cracked his head from left to right as attempted to reason with her.

"You have no clue, do you?"

"Well, it's not that simple. Dante is my twin, our story is the same. And so, finding him was relatively easy." Vergil said looking at her intensely.

"Then why try to find me?"

"The demons had a vested interest in you ever since you got here. They followed you around, kept tabs. They were waiting for something."

"For what?"

"I am not sure. But once they knew for sure, they attacked."

Dante laughed sarcastically and said, "Attacked?! They launched a full scale invasion on her."

Rayven kept staring at Vergil, not understanding as to why she was being targeted along with Dante. She barely knew him. And Vergil knew he was losing her, he had to do something, something to stop her from leaving. He couldn't risk her getting killed and worst, getting caught. He decided to tell her everything he knew about her, which was very little.

"All I know is that you were dropped off at the Our Holy Mother Orphanage when you were 3 years old. The same year our family was separated."

"How do you know I was dropped off?" she asked, still skeptical of what he was telling her.

Vergil pulled out an old picture from his pocket and showed it to her and Dante leaned in to take a look. It was a picture of a small girl, smiling and sitting on someone's arm. The man holding her had not been pictured. Only his right hand holding the girl was visible. She looked happy and was trying to clap her hands. Her right hand was clearly seen. And so was her tattoo.

Rayven looked at Vergil and said," That's me!?"

"Yes. It was picked up from a demon collaborator we caught. The name of the orphanage is at the back." he shared.

Rayven turned the photograph to cross check. She couldn't believe it, finally, a link to her past.

"I suppose you checked at the orphanage." she said.

"Yes. The children's wing was destroyed in a fire shortly after you were brought there and you along with the other children were shifted to another facility." he explained.

"All evidence of where was lost in process. The only surviving hint is this picture. The collaborator revealed that it was the man in the picture who dropped you off."

Rayven looked back at the picture, trying to pick up some kind of clue about the man. All she saw was the white shirt sleeve peeking through the arm of the black suit the man wore. That's when she saw it, the amber stone ring on the man's index finger. She had seen it before.

"I think I know who it is and where to find him." she exclaimed.

"Where?" the twins asked in tandem and looked at each other in surprise. A new sense of brotherhood emerging.

"We need to go to heaven."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

The open roads lined with large trees lead them out of the city. The area seemed untouched by the brutality rampant in the city. No trace of the demons here, they were safe for now.

Kat had volunteered to stay back at the Order, to supervise, someone had to. So it was just Vergil, Dante and Rayven in the car. After driving for a good three hours they finally arrived at their destination. A large estate, reinforced with a huge compound wall. Its appearance softened by the flowering veins growing on it. They came to halt at the entrance gate which was shut.

Vergil looked at the intercom machine next to him at the driver's side and moved to speak into it. Rayven stopped him as she saw the gardener on the other side of the gate. She got out of the car to speak to him and he instantly recognized her.

"Miss Mayors! It has been months."

"So it has."

"How have you been? The old fart's been missing you."

"I know. Can you open the gate for me, Frank?"

"Sure. I know you want to surprise him."

"Something like that."

Frank smiled and pressed the gate open. Rayven got into the car and waved at him as they drove in.

The house soon came into view. It was a huge place; the driveway was adorned with lilies and roses. It was a four storied, large stone building with huge windows and an arched corridor leading away into the stables. 'It is bigger than 'Paradise'. Dante thought. They stopped at the twin staircase entry.

"Welcome to 'Heaven'." Rayven said as they stepped out of the car.

"Heaven?" asked Vergil inquisitively. He thought 'She said heaven. But what place is this?'

"Yeah. I call it 'heaven'. It's where my life changed for the better. Here's where I found love and a sense of belonging." She replied, feeling silly about it.

"You grew up here?" Dante asked, completely taken aback by the grandeur of the place.

"Yeah. Mom and Dad loved the serenity of this place. They hated the city." she simply stated.

"Mom and Dad?"

"Jack and Nora Mayors, the couple that adopted me. I owe a lot to them." she explained.

Vergil looked at her, not believing the coincidence. He felt the same way towards his own parents after realizing that he too was adopted. He felt indebted to them. It was something they had in common.

As they walked towards the steps, she stopped at the back and said, "Why don't you guys go ahead? I gotta check on, my horse. It's been quite some time since I last saw her."

She pointed to the door and turned away walking into the arched corridor to the stables.

Dante turned to look at Vergil and with his raised eyebrow said, "What, no private jet?" To which Vergil smiled, he knew Dante had lived a tough life. Destiny had played an unfair game with him.

Dante shook his head as they both walked up the stairs and came up to the door. Dante walked to the door and knocked. Vergil waited at the last step, looking at his surroundings and away from the door. A few minutes later the door opened and a man came into view.

He was a tall, old and an eloquent looking man. Graying hair and wrinkles did little to hide the fact that he must have been handsome in his youth. He carried an air of sophistication around him. Dressed in a black suit he looked very much like he belonged here.

"How may I help you?" he said in a thick English accent.

"Rayven..." Dante began to speak but was interrupted immediately.

The man tried to cut the conversation short and get to the point. "Rayven? Ah! You must be Chad."

"No." Dante replied instantaneously.

"Nick?"

"No."

"Eric?"

"NO!"

"Marshall?"

"Do I look like a 'Marshall?"Dante asked, irritated with the inane interrogation.

The man shook his head and pulled out a small book from his pocket and said, "I guess you are the new one then? Let me find the page here."

Dante looked at the book in the man's hand as he turned page after page.

"How many boyfriends does she have?"

He gave a short laugh, as he found the page, pulled out his pen and said, "Not enough!"

Dante was taken aback and kept staring as he tried to explain, "Well, my brother and I..." only to be interrupted again.

"Brothers?...this is the wrong list then." He started to turn pages again and Dante turned to Vergil urging him to take control of the situation.

Vergil stared in disbelief and walked up to the door and addressed the man, who looked up at the sound of the footsteps and pressed his lips in contempt.

"Sir, I think there is some misunderstanding here. We are..." Vergil was interrupted too as the man raised his eyebrow and spoke.

"Twins?! That's new. I'm going to have to make a separate list for this."

He shook his head and turned pages again as Dante and Vergil looked at each other and stared back at him in disbelief.

"So what names should I write?" he asked, clicking his pen.

"None." Rayven spoke as she came up to the door. They all turned to look at her; she just walked inside and asked the man "Is that how we welcome guests now, Cuthbert?"

"Miss Mayors! I wasn't expecting to see you." he said, embracing her.

"You were always the one to love surprises." she said.

"Surprise? Yes. You with two boys, that to twins? No." he said mischievously, "Have you been naughty again, my dear?"

Dante raised an eyebrow and looked at Vergil who was staring at Rayven in wonderment. This woman's behavior and temperament was all over the place.

"Cuthbert! Seriously?" she exclaimed.

"Alright, why don't we all go inside and have something to drink?" he said inviting them all.

They came into the large foyer and Cuthbert was about to lead them into the den.

"Wait! I want to know about my family, Cuthbert." Rayven said walking inside, Dante and Vergil followed closely.

"My dear, you know everything. Mr. and Mrs. Mayors were lovely people. They loved you to the core of their being. May their souls rest in peace." he said as a matter of fact.

Rayven gave out a small sad sigh and said, "Not them. My real family. The parents who gave birth to me."

"I don't know, my dear. The first time I met you was when they brought you home from the orphanage." he replied.

"Really, Cuthbert?" she said, clearly having caught his lie. She looked towards Vergil, who handed her the photograph of her three year old self. She showed Cuthbert the picture and asked him again," Are you telling me you don't know about this?"

Cuthbert stared at the picture in shock. 'How did she find this? We hid everything so well.' he thought.

"The girl in the picture is me. And the man in the picture, wearing the amber ring - is you." she demanded. "Am I right?"

Cuthbert just looked at her blankly, not wanting to say anything lest it should offend her or upset her. The ring had always been on his finger, an indication of his loyalty. He knew that it was a dead giveaway. He knew that she deserved to know, but that would put her in harm's way or worse she would go searching for it. Everything had gone according to plan uptil now but it looked like things were about to change.

"Well?" she prodded.

Cuthbert knew she would never give up and so he sighed, "Yes. That man in the photograph is me."

"It was me who was entrusted with the job of keeping you safe."

"Who asked you to?" she asked, not understanding. Rayven kept looking at him waiting for rest of the explanation.

"Your father."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 8

Cuthbert led them into the den and poured a cup of tea for everyone. The den was as lavish as rest of the house. Dark brown and tan curtains adorned the huge arched windows. The ornate designs and moldings on the ceiling added to the grandeur of the room. Huge couches were placed around the huge fireplace. The mantel placed at the top of the fireplace held pictures of the family.

He picked up the picture of Mr. Mayors and Rayven, taken when she was 11 years old. It was taken a year after Mrs. Mayors had died. The event had shocked her and she had become reclusive again. To get her out of her shell, Mr. Mayors had bought her a pony. She had loved it and they went riding every day. She had always loved spending time with her Dad. 'She looks so happy here.' He thought sadly, knowing that she would become sad and angry with what he was about to reveal.

Vergil had brought him up to speed about his organization and also with regards to the events of the past few days. Cuthbert was shocked to know that it all happened within a span of two days. He had always known that they would find each other but didn't expect it to be so sudden. He had made every attempt to keep Rayven away from it all. But destiny had already laid out their life and all he had done was prolong the inevitable.

Dante sat on the large window sill overlooking the garden at the back. His mind was pre-occupied and he was trying to reason with himself. He liked getting on Rayven's nerve just to get a reaction out of her. That seemed to be the only way they liked to communicate. He loved the way her face flushed and her eyes sparkled as she retorted back at him. But he knew it that it wasn't the only reason. Every time he looked at Rayven, he was reminded of someone. He felt like he knew her from before, much before. Her giggle was far too familiar.

Vergil feeling completely at home with environment sat on the ornate sofa chair. He grew up in a similar environment, so it was nothing new. He sipped his tea and kept stealing glances at Rayven. His attraction to her was growing steadily. He was unable to get her off his mind. The more he tried to distance his attention from her, the more interested he got. He didn't want to get involved any further then he already did, but his heart was not listening to his mind. His intel on her was spotty at best. He had to know more.

Rayven sat at the large sofa, still holding the photograph showing her most innocent face. She had always wondered about her real family. What they must have been like, whether they loved her or not. Did they not want her? Is that why she was abandoned? And with this photograph, finally she had a connection but now she was afraid to know the truth.

Cuthbert took a seat next to Rayven, pulled her hand into his and spoke. "I have tried so hard to keep you safe and away from harm. But what is to happen will happen."

Rayven shook her head and said, "Cuthbert, enough of these cryptic sentences. Just tell me who my parents are."

Cuthbert sighed sadly as he began, "Angels and demons have always fought with one another. Each race has battled for supremacy over the other. Demons have tried to enslave humanity and angels have tried to keep them from doing so."

"You know most of the story. Mundus had risen in ranks and had his brother, Sparda on his side as his most trusted. Sparda looked up to Mundus. They had several followers, ready to implement their every command."

"Sparda's army was powerful and Angel's had to face defeat several times. It was so because of Sparda's most devout follower, Agnes."

All three were listening intently. Vergil listened with complete attention, trying to put the past together in his mind. Dante's attention was on Rayven. Her eyes showed her vulnerability and sorrow, like she was unsure of herself. And somehow he felt the same sadness in his heart.

Cuthbert continued on, "Agnes was the weapons specialist. She had equipped the army well and trained them to be the best. Her skills in battle were unmatched, so was her beauty, even by the angels themselves. She had sworn her loyalty to Sparda and every word of his was a command for her."

"When Sparda shared his feelings about Eva, she began to despise him. Any association with angels is frowned upon by the demons, she knew that. So she stood in opposition to him at Mundus's side."

"Sparda's life with Eva was interrupted several times by the angels and demons alike. The war raged even more fiercely, each side aching for a win. Eventually the angels took the lead and Mundus was surrounded. Agnes sacrificed herself, got herself captured just to aid his escape."

"She was summoned before the leader of the angels' army in a bid to extract secrets from the enemy. But she stood firm and bore all the torture, never revealing a word. The leader tried relentlessly, he tried every method but she revealed nothing. Each having complete contempt and hatred for one another."

"Eventually their hatred turned into attachment, affection and ultimately into love. Michael rebelled against his own kind." Cuthbert said with deep sorrow.

"Michael?" Vergil spoke in-between. "The Archangel?"

Rayven and Dante looked at Vergil and then turned their attention to Cuthbert, neither believing a word of what he just said.

"Yes. The Archangel Michael. They loved each other immensely and kept their love a secret from everyone."

Pointing to the twins he said, "They saw the love between Sparda and Eva blossom into new life. And four years later they were blessed with the same. You, Rayven."

"They loved you so much." he said with tears in his eyes and Rayven squeezed his hand in acknowledgement. Every word of his came as a shock to her.

"They knew Mundus was growing suspicious and eventually three years later, the unthinkable happened. Mundus killed Eva, had Sparda imprisoned. His next target was your parents."

"Michael had devised an escape plan but before he could implement it, they were attacked. Agnes was killed in the attack. Michael somehow managed to save you and he asked me to keep you safe."

"I sent you to the orphanage, knowing that would be the last place they would look for you. I planned to keep tabs on you till it was safe for you to return. But as the war raged to its peak, Michael was killed and you were lost. I searched for you day and night for four years but to no success. It was a stroke of luck that I saw you being dragged into a police car one night."

Dante who up until now paid little attention turned his head towards Cuthbert in surprise. 'Dragged into a police car...' He was reminded of that night. He hadn't thought of that night in years.

"Jack and Nora Mayors were childless and I had taken up a job here as the caretaker, persuaded them to adopt you and help raise you, and continued to do so even after their death and now here we are."

Rayven leaned back into the sofa and looked at Cuthbert. "So, my mother was a demon and my father an angel. That makes me like... them." she said looking towards Dante and Vergil.

"Yes. Nephilim. But not just any nephilim. You have the blood of an Archangel running through your veins."

"And Mundus knows I exist?"

"Yes. He also knows that your blood in his hands can unleash pure hell here on earth."

All three youngsters looked at him in shock. Neither knowing what to say. Finally Rayven asked," What do you mean 'hell on earth'?"

"Your blood will make Mundus invincible. And then no power will be able to defeat him. Not even nephilim." Cuthbert said in complete seriousness. It was then that they realized the gravity of the situation. " But he thinks that Sparda had just one child."

"Me." Dante said in response.

Cuthbert nodded in approval and said, "He wants each and every speck of Sparda and Agnes destroyed. He is still filled with same anger and fury as before. But he would stop at nothing to capture Rayven."

Rayven closed her eyes not wanting to show any signs of weakness. She knew none of this, her life had not exactly been the easiest but her adoptive parents had made her life seem perfect. She opened her eyes and asked," Vergil says that we are the only ones who can kill Mundus. Is it true?"

"As far as we know, yes." Cuthbert replied." That's why you had to be kept safe and secret. Your father armed you with his own weapon, the sword of Michael." He pointed to the tattoo on her wrist.

"The most powerful one amongst all angels." Vergil said, stunned by this new revelation and Cuthbert simply nodded.

"This is too much to take in." Rayven stated slowly as she got up.

She turned around to look at the three men, all of whom were simply staring at her. Neither knew how to react to the situation. She saw Cuthbert, the man who raised her and then she saw the two - Dante and Vergil. Just being in their presence made her heart beat faster and insides shudder. She was confused and all this new information was not making it easy.

"I need some fresh air." she said as she turned quickly to step out of the room.

"My dear, Wait!" Cuthbert called after her.

"You knew all this and you kept it from me. I can't believe you would do that." She yelled back and ran out.

Cuthbert shook his head and looked down at his hands in despair. Dante and Vergil looked at him and were quiet as neither knew what to say. Both had felt the same intense sorrow that Rayven had felt.

Vergil got up from his seat and asked," Is she going to be alright?"

"I don't know." Cuthbert said sadly.

Vergil looked back at Dante and saw him stare out the window. He walked out the room to find her.

Dante looked outside the window and saw Rayven running away from the house. She looked upset and was almost on the verge of tears. And as Vergil left, he followed suit.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9

Rayven ran swiftly through the vast back garden and came to halt in front of a tree. The tree was planted by her father in memory of her mother who passed away when she was ten. It had beautiful crimson and pink flowers. Their sweet scent filled the air around. She and her father came riding here every week, to speak to her, feel her presence. And two years later when her father died too, she still kept coming here in both their memory. She spoke to them about her day, her feelings, voice her fears and right now she needed them.

She stood under it staring at the open grassland beyond their home. She was so engrossed that she didn't notice Vergil come and stand next to her.

"That's a beautiful tree."

She turned to look at him and looked up to the tree. "My father planted it after my mother passed away."

"I am sorry to hear that." Vergil sympathized.

"It's alright. It's been years." She looked away; her heart had started to beat irregularly again.

Vergil stood leaning against the tree and said," So life growing up was tough, huh?"

She smiled and simply replied," Well, here...not so much. But before that was something different."

She sighed and continued," Any memory of my real parents is lost. The only parents I know are Jack and Nora. Not belonging to someone, not having someone to take care of you is hard to deal with when you are little."

Time went by and neither spoke for long. Vergil just looked back at her,wanting to ask her something, anything to get her to talk to him. So he asked her randomly, "What was it like growing up in the orphanage?"

She laughed wryly and replied," I don't remember a lot. But I do remember shifting from place to place. A little girl screaming in the middle of the night, waking everyone up and talking about demons is not really popular with the management. They just want to get rid of you. So I was shuffled everywhere."

"Don't have too many memories of each place though. The only place I truly remember is the last one."

"Why is that?" Vergil enquired.

"Because that was the first place where I met someone who I felt like I belonged to and who took care of me." She said sadly.

"Who was it?"Vergil asked. He was very interested in knowing her past. And also, he felt he would never get a chance to speak to her alone, so this was the moment. And he didn't want it to end.

"Another orphan. He was few years older than me. He saved me from this bully. He punched him and he was punished for doing so, sent into confinement. When he got out, he said he was planning to run away and asked me to go with him. For some reason, I trusted him. So we ran away."

Vergil couldn't believe it. Two children out on the street by themselves. Sure it must have been tough. She continued on, looking into blank space.

"We lived on the street, shared stolen food and squatted in empty homes. We were happy."

"But one day it all ended. The police chased us down, he escaped but I was caught and we were separated."

"I was adopted within the same week. I looked for the boy everywhere, urged my parents to search. But I never saw him again." she said sadly.

"What was his name? Maybe I can help." Vergil suggested. Hoping that it would give them a chance to interact further.

"I haven't thought about him in a while." she thought long and hard. She stressed her mind and finally looked up at Vergil and said, "Tony! I think his name was Tony."

Dante looked up in shock. 'So it is her.' he thought. He had followed Vergil and stayed at the back the whole time. He heard her story and was reminded of his own experiences. This was the same nameless girl from his childhood. How different their lives have turned out to be!

He came up ahead into view and they both turned to look at him. He hadn't planned on saying anything, so he said the first thing that came to his mind. "What are you two lovebirds up to?"

Vergil looked at him swiftly, his eyes laden with guilt. Rayven on the other hand, gave him a 'What the...' look and said," Lovebirds? Really?"

"Well, from what I know you do have a kinky streak."

"What?!"

"You have a thing for brothers. I know 'bout 'the Lists'" leaning close to her face he said as he smirked.

"I know 'bout a 'Hypocrite'." she tilted her head slightly and spat back.

Vergil walked away, not wanting to get in the middle of another war of words. Dante looked up to see him walk away and couldn't resist teasing her."I think he doesn't like to share. Too bad, huh?"

Rayven walked up to him and punched him in his face.

"Oww! See, I told you that, you would hit me." he said smiling through the pain.

"Yeah! And I said you might like it." she replied looking at him and turned to walk away.

He wiped away the little blood that seeped through his cut lip and said, "Damn Piggles! You pack quite the punch."

She turned around quickly and said, "Did you just say, Piggles?"

His eyes went wide in shock. He had not planned on revealing their past connection this way or this soon. He tried to think of something to say to cover up his blunder. But as he looked at her, his train of thought dissipated. The afternoon sun penetrated through the branches and made her hair shine, her eyes gleamed a rich green and his eyes kept focus on her luscious lips. 'She grew up pretty, …no beautiful." he thought.

Rayven kept staring back at him, waiting for a reply. It was this very moment that she paid full attention to his appearance. He had dark hair and blue sparkly eyes. His face looked different but he saw her the same way as he did almost twelve years ago. 'This can't be him.' she thought trying to convince herself. She saw every inch of his face, trying to find the face of the boy from her past but saw very little similarity. Her mind had forgotten most of him but as her eyes came to rest on the pendant in his neck, she remembered.

"You're Tony?!" she exclaimed in shock.

Dante avoided all eye contact, knowing he would give away the truth. But she moved closer to him, looking right at him, deep into his soul. Dante couldn't help but look back and he realized he was caught. He shook his head in agreement and gave a small smile. She smiled back in sheer joy. 'Wow! What a smile.' he thought. But soon her face changed into that of anger and she shoved him back with both her hands. Dante stepped backwards in imbalance and she pushed him again as she yelled," Do you know how much I searched for you?" she shoved him again.

"They thought I was insane!"

Dante tried to balance himself again but she used all her strength and shoved him once more in pure anger.

"How long have you known? Since the club?" she asked him ferociously.

"No! I just realized it when you were telling Vergil about it." Dante spoke defensively.

"And you didn't say anything?" she said while shoving him once more. But this time Dante held her hands firmly with his own. She tried to pull back but he held on tight.

"I didn't want us meet this way." he said through his teeth.

"News flash buddy! We already did. Three days ago." she spat.

He smirked, remembering that night, her eyes, her skin, her lips and said," Hell of a reunion, right?"

Rayven couldn't believe it; he was shoving 'the night' in her face. She tried to pull her hands back but he had a firm grip on them. So she did the next best thing, kneed him in the groin.

"Fuck! What was that for?" he winced in pain as he released her.

She just walked away towards the house, not wanting to deal with Dante or listen to any of his explanation. She just wanted to get away from him.

"Fuck!" Dante realizing his mistake ran behind her. He had lost her once; he didn't want to lose her again.

"Piggles! Wait!" he called after her.

"My name is Rayven." she yelled without looking back.

"Ok, 'Rayven'...could you just stop and talk to me." he pleaded.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"C'mon. Gimmi' a break. It's not like I always knew." he tried reasoning with her.

"No! But you knew now and still decided to keep quiet." she accused him.

"I told you, I didn't want to tell you this way." he said as he walked briskly behind her with the house coming into view.

"And how did you plan on telling me? With another drunk fuck?" she spat angrily.

"Sounds like a plan to me." he teased, trying to lighten the mood.

Rayven just turned around, ready to punch him again but he was quicker this time around and ducked away. She wanted to hurt him, make him feel miserable and her face still showed anger.

Dante couldn't help but smirk mischievously. 'She looked prettier when she was angry.' he thought as his eyes travelled from her eyes to her lips.

"Stop checking me out!" she yelled at him, slapping his arm.

Dante rubbed his arm and said," You really need to stop hitting me!"

She turned to walk away again but Dante grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Hey, it's not like I didn't look for you, alright. I looked everywhere I could. But you were gone." He tried reasoning with her, his eyes almost pleading.

She looked in his eyes and said," You promised that you'd never leave me."

Dante felt the pain in her heart and let her hand go. He had promised her that, he should have searched harder.

"I'm sorry, Piggles." he said with the same sorrow as her."I should have found you sooner."

He had searched for her everywhere, every facility possible. He even got himself caught by the police, hoping that she would be there, wherever they took him. But success evaded him. He still felt protective towards her. He couldn't believe he felt the same way as he did years ago.

As she looked up at him she realized that it didn't matter anymore. They had bigger issues to deal with. Mundus had ruined their past, they had to avenge their parents and petty bickering was not going to help.

"Truce?" she said, holding out her hand for a shake.

"Truce." Dante said taking her hand in his and giving it a good shake. They both started walking towards the house, neither knowing what their relationship could be called.

"And my name is Rayven." she said to him."If we are gonna work together then you better learn it."

He grinned at her and said, "Fine...'Rayven' it is. Does that mean we're ok?"

"Um hmm!"

"And you promise you won't hit me again, 'cos it really hurts." he asked sincerely.

She didn't reply but simply laughed.

"Fine, I'll let you do that in private." he suggested mischievously.

"Really?" she said teasingly.

"Sure." he said grinning as they walked forward."So, how do you think we should seal our deal?"

Rayven shook her head and gave him a stern look. He just kept looking at her with one of his eyebrows raised."With - How did you put it...'Another drunk fuck'?"

"Just when I thought you could talk like a normal person." Rayven complained.

"Well, you're the one who suggested it in the first place." He leaned into her ear and teased her," And from the other night, I think I have an idea of how you like it."

She hit him immediately and turned around towards the house, smiling as she walked. He walked behind her knew that he had got through to her finally.

"Rough, right?" he said from behind.

She stopped, turned around, gave him a sexy smirk as she held his head in her right hand and brought her lips to his ears and said,"You have no idea."

She moved away from him and just as she turned around said,"I also like it on top." smiling devilishly as she walked away, Dante doing the same as he followed her into the house.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10

Vergil walked in the house after his conversation with Rayven was crudely interrupted by Dante. In his mind, Vergil hated him for doing that. All he wanted was to talk to her alone and try to figure out what exactly was it about her that was drawing him towards her. He went back into the den, waiting for them to return.

He sat on the sofa in deep thought, his elbows on each arm rest, hands held together and forefingers to his chin. His eyes shone as the rays of the early evening sun seeped through the half open curtains. His eyebrows frowned together, his mind in complete chaos. He had started to compare her to every woman he knew, seen or been with. She was perhaps the most beautiful of them all. Not one of them had made his heart beat fast and slow at the same time like her. 'What are you doing to me, Rayven?' he thought.

He shook his head and attempted to focus on the new turn of events. Her being a nephilim came as a surprise. But the bigger shock was her being half an archangel. He didn't see that one coming. It was the biggest trump card they could ever get. He knew that this information could help him achieve every goal that he had set.

His thought was cut short as Cuthbert walked back into the den. He stood near the entrance and asked worriedly, "Is she still upset?"

Vergil sighed," I don't think so. I think she was just overwhelmed with so much information."

"I suppose finding out that your father was an Archangel is a hard one to swallow." Cuthbert agreed as he walked to the mantel to gaze at Rayven's pictures again.

Vergil looked at him and simply nodded. He was far too conflicted in his mind to disagree. If he wanted to know more about Rayven, this was the man to speak with and no better chance than right now.

"It must have been tough raising her, all the while knowing the truth, I assume." he stated.

Cuthbert gave a short smile. "Wasn't so hard when she was younger. Quiet and distrustful. Not the one to disobey, but as she grew up, her rebellious streak started showing."

He looked at Vergil and continued on.

"She wouldn't listen to a word I told her, just did the opposite. For instance, I asked her to be weary of boys. But I have a book full names I'm sure she doesn't even remember meeting."

Vergil's mouth turned into a sly smile remembering the conversation at the front door. He couldn't help asking the main question ringing in his mind.

"So by now, you know the kind of men she goes for. Right?" He couldn't believe himself for being so forward with his question.

Cuthbert laughed, he knew what Vergil wanted to actually know. Rayven had that effect on men without even trying. He never could figure out how. He just shook his head and said, "You could say that."

Vergil looked at him, waiting for the rest of the answer but Cuthbert just kept quiet. Realizing that he wasn't getting anymore than that, he decided to change the subject.

"Is she really Michael's child?"

"I know it's hard to believe. But it's true."

Vergil looked at Cuthbert intently, trying to catch even the slightest hint of a lie. But he was speaking the truth.

"That's why he was worried for her. If he were alive then Rayven would be far away from this place. A nephilim whose father in an Archangel is quite a treat for Mundus. He wants her blood." Cuthbert continued.

Just then Rayven walked into the den, a small smile on her face. Vergil's face flushed involuntarily as soon as he saw her and his mouth shifted into a slight smile. He was happy on the inside to see her in a better mood. Soon Dante followed in with a smug look on his face and Vergil's mood changed into that of his stern self. They had history, so to say and what did he have.

Rayven gave Vergil a soft smile, as if to thank him for trying to comfort her. She then looked at Cuthbert, who had a sad longing look on his face, walked up to him and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry I got mad at you, Cuthbert. I didn't mean to." she said as she cried into his shoulder.

Cuthbert stroked her head and said," I meant to tell you sooner. But I was afraid that you would go after Mundus."

Rayven pulled back and looked at Cuthbert with a surprised shock, not believing what he said.

"You don't want me to?"

Cuthbert didn't reply. He knew in his heart that she had made up her mind. It didn't matter what he said to her, she would never listen.

"He killed my parents. He killed their mother. Imprisoned their father." She said pointing to Dante and Vergil. "And for what? Falling in 'love' is not a crime Cuthbert." she said sadly, imagining the love her parents must have had for each other. So much that they rebelled against their own kinds. Rayven couldn't understand his apprehension. She wanted revenge and would do anything for it.

Cuthbert just kept looking at her. He knew she was right. He simply sighed, "No, it isn't. But you being safe and away from him is far more important."

"I just want you to be careful. I cannot disappoint Michael any further, my dear."

"Only a few of us angels remain here on earth. Most of us here to keep you safe. This house and its surroundings are kept secret with powerful wards to keep our kind out of sight."

Rayven looked at him in shock and her expression was duplicated on the twins' faces. 'Us angels...' Rayven thought and she made the connection. "You're an angel?" She asked, her eyes wide and eyebrows frowned.

"Yes. So is everyone who works here. Our loyalty to Michael remains firm, even in the face of his demise. We wanted to remain a secret. Even from you." Cuthbert explained, hoping that she would understand his plight.

She walked away from him. She was disappointed and angry but also sad that he didn't trust her enough.

"I feel so betrayed. What other secrets have you been keeping from me?" Rayven said sadly.

"None, my dear. You know everything now. We cannot afford to lose more of our kind, we cannot afford to lose you." He attempted to reason with her.

But Rayven was determined, her life had been the way it was because of Mundus and she wanted him to pay.

"Don't you want me to exact revenge, make Mundus pay for what he did? Isn't that why you trained me? I always wondered why. But things are much clearer now. You know I have to fight back."

Cuthbert shook his head and continued his protest." You don't have to. That's not why I helped train you. I trained you keeping the worst case scenario in mind. I wouldn't dream of putting you in harm's way. I am scared of losing you, my dear."

"You won't. Vergil here has been studying him and his activities for a long time. He knows what course of action would be the most effective. And Dante is best fighter I have ever seen. I will be fine." she pleaded. Her eyes shone with determination.

Rayven was hell bent on convincing Cuthbert. His worry was justified but so was her decision. And there was nothing he could do about it.

Cuthbert eyes turned to look at the twins. He didn't know whether to trust them or not. His intel on each had been very thorough. Each and every aspect of their lives was known to him. He knew where they grew up, what they liked, what they ate, what they drank. He even knew their darkest desires and fantasies.

What surprised him was that even though they were twins, their personalities were on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Dante seemed like the abrasive type with his juvenile behavior and crude sense of humor. He didn't give so much as a single thought before he acted. Not a care in the world, lived with no rules. Vergil on the other hand seemed more mature, and had a sharp mind. He was calculated in his actions. He seemed like someone capable of taking charge. Each had their strengths, but would they be able to keep her safe.

Cuthbert looked at her, knowing that her mind was already made up and nothing he could say or do would change it. He simply said," Just be careful, alright?" And giving out a long sigh asked," Do you have to leave right away?"

* * *

As the night fell, back in the city, up in Silver Sacks tower, Kyle sat in his large chair facing the window overlooking the surroundings. He tapped his fingers on the arm rest, his face distorted and nostrils flaring in pure anger and fury. 'How had they managed to escape?' he wondered. He closed his eyes and shook his head in anger as his hands curled into a fist. His fingers digging into his palms.

He had been informed about their whereabouts and he planned the attacks carefully. Yet they survived. Not just survived but had managed to overpower and kill his most capable hunters. They had a made a mockery out of his plans and disappeared off the face of the earth. 'How is that possible?' he wondered. His surveillance system had never failed him. But right now he couldn't locate them. He felt humiliated. He couldn't just sit still and wait, something had to be done.

He got up from his seat, walked towards the window and his mouth curled in an evil grin. He had made up his mind. Turning around he walked to his desk and picked up the phone. He dialed a number and waited for the call to be received. Two rings later there was a sudden click as the call was picked up and a gruff voice on the other end said, "Hello."

* * *

The sounds of the crickets echoed through the surroundings. The moonlight making the leaves glisten as the cool breeze swayed the leaves slightly and make a low sound. The sweet smell of flowers filled the surrounding air. Standing in the middle was a beautiful stone mansion gleaming in the soft moonlight. The window panes reflecting the light.

Rayven stood on the balcony next to the dining room, gazing into the darkness of the night. In the backyard she saw her childhood memories come alive. The spot where she fell while running behind butterflies. The tree under which her mother took them out for a picnic. Or the place where they celebrated her birthday. It all seemed so long ago. She closed her eyes trying to remember every feeling, every moment. It had been perfect while it lasted.

Dante stood leaning on the door frame quietly gazing at her. Everyone had retired to their rooms after dinner. But he couldn't get any sleep. His mind was in turmoil. He wanted to talk to her and make sure she wasn't still mad at him. But mainly to make sure that she was alright. He had been looking for her everywhere after not finding her in her room. And here she was. She looked so peaceful with her eyes closed in deep thought, her face glowing in the moonlight, her hair slightly swaying with the breeze, she looked to be in her own world.

Slowly she lifted her eyelids and sighed as she spoke. " Dante, I know you're out there."

Dante shifted in surprise and straightened himself. He had been as quiet as he could be yet she had realized his presence. She was still facing away as he walked up to her.

"I didn't think you noticed, Piggles." he said as he stood next to her.

She turned to look up at him and smiled. "I always wondered why you called me that."

Dante smiled back as he answered," Well, you didn't have a name. I had to give you one."

"But why 'Piggles'?" she asked him.

"That's 'cos you wore piglets and giggled all the time. So, you became Piggles." he explained. "I know it sounds dumb right now. But it didn't at that time."

She laughed softly making his heart skip a beat. Her face was illuminated in the moonlight enhancing her features. He gave a small laugh along with her. He loved the way she laughed.

"Why did you call yourself 'Tony' back then?" she asked still smiling.

Dante gave out a small sigh and shrugged as he replied,"I guess it made me feel normal."

His mouth suddenly dropped into seriousness. His eyes had an intense look as he apologized once more," I really am sorry that I didn't search harder for you."

Rayven shook her head and replied," It's not your fault, Dante. You were a small kid yourself. Don't blame yourself, please. I was just angry that you didn't tell me who you were before."

"I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't want us to meet like this." he said sadly as he leaned his elbows on the railing.

"It doesn't matter. We met when we were supposed to meet." she said trying to make him feel better."Honestly, I don't even remember what happened that night. It's all a blur."

Dante turned sideways to look at her swiftly. He looked shocked at what she said. "You're kidding!" He straightened up and looked down at her. "You really don't remember anything?"

Rayven shook her head," No, I don't. I guess I was too drunk or...you really sucked." She smiled mischievously as she teased him.

"That's it! We are fixing this. Let's go to your room right now. How could you not remember?" he yelled at her, not believing how adamant she was about it.

"You're out of your mind!" she exclaimed. She couldn't believe his determination towards this incident. 'Why do guys have to get so insecure about this?' She thought.

"I am dead serious, Piggles. Let's do this, right now." he said, trying to persuade her.

She laughed again, the same way that made him crazy for her. His heart skipping a beat every time she said his name. His face feeling flushed every time she looked at him. 'Wow! That's never happened to me before.' He thought.

He took her hands in his and pulled her to his chest.

"Dante! What are you..." She started to protest but was cut-off as his hands trailed slowly up her arms, sending shivers down her spine.

She looked up at him, her eyes not leaving his. They felt each other's heart beat rapidly, their breath going in slow and steady rhythm. His hands reached on either side of her face pulling her closer to him. Her hands moved to his sides on their own. All reasoning thrown out into the wind.

He slowly bought his lips dangerously close to hers and stopped. They stood in that position for what seemed like an eternity. They could feel the other's breath on their lips. Their hearts started beating faster and harder. Neither moving ahead nor backing out. Slowly, Dante smiled and spoke in a low voice," Are you telling me you don't remember this?"

Rayven just looked deep into his blue eyes. She was caught off-guard at his actions. She had remembered the night, every bit of it. But found that teasing him about it was more fun. Not expecting to see him again, she had lied. And now even though they were this close, her ego was not letting her give up easily.

Using all her mental energy and inner strength she replied, " No, I don't."

As soon as she uttered those words, Dante moved his lips closer to hers, gently grazing them. That simple move made her shudder, even he felt it. And in that same position he asked her again," Are you sure?"

She didn't respond just gave out another shudder. Their bodies were warm with excitement and the cool breeze made her shiver. He grazed her lips once more to tease her and finally crushed his lips into hers.

Vergil watched the scene unfold in front of him with bated breath. He had been worried about Rayven and was looking for her. He had just reached downstairs when he heard voices on the balcony. He stood near the door, his face obscured by the curtains. His eyebrows frowned in disappointment and his hands curled into a fist on each side. He couldn't believe that she would choose Dante over him. He was furious and angry at what he saw. 'Why am I reacting like this? I hardly know her.' He thought. He cracked his head from side to side. He closed his eyes and gave out a low sigh. He had work to do, revenge to take. He needed his mind to be focused. Getting infatuated and having a fit of jealousy was not going to help. He narrowed his eyes and walked away with renewed determination.

At the balcony, Dante finally released Rayven from the intense kiss, leaving them both breathless and panting. Their hearts were beating rapidly, her face still in his hands and her hands gripping his coat tightly. He kept his forehead leaned against hers, their eyes shut and spoke in a rasp voice" There is no way you forgot that."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 11

At the late hour when most of the world remained in deep slumber and oblivious to reality, Kat sat at a desk at the Order, going through their website and making sure that it was updated.

Her association with Vergil had made her focus strong. She admired him and his dedication towards his work. He had saved her, acknowledged her ability and recruited her into his organization. She had wanted to be like him and some of their co-workers had suggested that she may even have a slight crush on him. She denied it. He was her mentor, nothing more, at least she hoped.

She trusted him, was loyal to him and wanted him to never be disappointed in her. It was partly this reason why she volunteered to stay back. She wanted to prove her dedication towards their common cause and to him.

She was in his office, and had been going cataloguing all the files. The room was lined with their huge server system, their little lights blinking rapidly. It was here where they had stored vast information on a number of individuals. Some ordinary and some influential. They knew their strengths, their secrets and most importantly their weaknesses.

She sat on the chair facing the computer screen and was busy clicking on the mouse and typing on the keyboard. Her eyes shifting across the screen with each click of the key. She was so concentrated on her work that when her cell phone rang, she was jolted out of her seat. She grinned realizing her silliness and quickly picked her phone to answer.

"Yes, Vergil."

"How has our surveillance been going?"

"James is just on his way back from downtown. He has collected all the information. We should have what we need by tomorrow morning." she replied, hoping he was pleased with their progress.

"I want you and James to meet us tomorrow sharp at 8." he ordered.

"Where?"

"I will text the location to you. I don't want to waste any more time. Is that clear?"

"Ok, Vergil." she said, accepting his command.

"Good." he replied and he hung up.

Kat pulled the phone back from her ears to look at it in surprise. He had hung up without even a goodbye. That was unlike him. He seemed angry. His voice was stern, even more so than usual. She wondered why.

* * *

Back at the balcony, Dante and Rayven stood in the same position, not moving. The wind had picked up speed and the insects were creaking through the night. But to them the whole world seemed to disappear and the only thing that remained was each other.

Dante slowly let Rayven go and took a step backwards, gave a sly grin and walked away, leaving her to her messed up thoughts.

She turned around and looked back into the darkness. Bringing her hand to her fast beating heart, she tried to calm it. 'This is not normal.' She thought. Her insides were shaking and lips were shivering. She had to sort this out with Dante. But she knew that if she were to talk to him right now, it would serve no purpose. They would barely get to the point, instead would get lost in each others' presence. 'Morning. I'll talk in the morning.' She decided and went back into the house.

She had just reached the staircase to go up to the upper floor when she saw the light of the lamp in the den switch on. She walked towards it and heard a male voice talking on the phone. She recognized the voice as Vergil's.

"Good."

She walked in as Vergil pressed his phone shut. He was facing away from her, only his profile was visible. He leaned back into the chair, one hand on the armrest and his eyes staring into blank space. His face was blank and he seemed to be in deep thought.

"Vergil." She called out to him but he didn't reply.

She walked up to him and placed her hand on his shoulder and asked, "Is everything alright?"

He turned his head sideways at her touch and looked up at her; clearly she had interrupted his train of thought. He kept looking at her not uttering a word. She gave him a small smile and asked again. "I asked you if everything was alright."

He looked at her blankly, suddenly his eyebrows frowned and he swiftly got up and moved away from her. He walked up to the window, stood upright and stared outside with his hands behind him. He had a hard look on his face and his breathing became irregular.

"Yes." He replied coldly.

Rayven couldn't understand his change in behavior. 'What's the matter with him? Must have a lot on his mind.' She thought. He was comforting to her when they had spoken earlier. She had liked that. She had opened up to very few people in her life. He had become one of them. She walked up to him, stood beside him and tried to do the same.

"Are you sure? Cos' you really don't seem to be." She asked with a genuine worry in her voice.

"I don't like repeating things." Vergil replied without looking at her. His eyes still staring out the window.

She shifted back not understanding the reason for his distance towards her. She thought she had found a friend in him. But now he was behaving oddly with her for some reason.

Vergil's heart on the other hand was going a hundred miles per hour and he had a million thoughts running through his mind. Her hand on his shoulder had surprised him. A jolt of electricity ran through his insides at her touch. And as he saw into her eyes he felt like he could get lost in them. He felt his heart slipping back into his previous emotions. He had forced himself to be firm with her. He had to keep his distance.

Rayven was confused and asked him, "Did...Did I do something wrong?"

He couldn't believe her question. 'Did I do something wrong? Was that supposed to be a joke?' He turned to look at her, anger and venom in his eyes. She had turned his head upside down. He had tried to be a friend, someone she could trust. He had behaved like a gentleman with her. But then, she had chosen Dante. 'How could you?' He thought.

"We are leaving in one hour." He simply stated.

Rayven looked at him in surprise and said, "But you said we could stay the night. What happened?"

"We don't have time to waste in frivolity." he spat sarcastically.

She was taken aback by his harsh words. Her eyes looking into his trying to find out the reason. But instead of questioning him she simply said," Ok, I'll go get ready then." And giving him a wry smile, she walked out.

Vergil pursed his lips and turned his attention back to the window. 'She had chosen Dante. Is that why I am angry?' He thought. He bought his hands to the front and looked at his palms. He could see the red half-moons where his fingernails had been digging into his palms. It hurt him to speak to her so rudely. He hated this feeling.

* * *

As the slight sliver of light shone across horizon in the sky, indicating the approaching dawn, Kat raced her car through the streets. She had to pick up James from his hideout and had to make it on time to the location Vergil had sent. It was very unlike him. They never met their contacts or informants outside for the fear of being spot by the collaborators. She knew that Vergil's trust in James was almost non-existent but he had been accurate in his intel so far.

She came to stop at a vacant spot near the garage where James was staying. Her car's headlights aimed at the windows on the lower level. She flashed the lights twice to indicate her arrival and a torchlight flashed back twice in acceptance of her code.

Soon the shutters to the garage opened slightly and a tall man wearing a dark brown bomber jacket and black pants crawled through. He got up and shut the garage shutter and looked on his right and left cautiously before walking towards the car.

He got in the passenger side and ruffled through his ash brown hair and sighed. He looked at Kat and gave her a sly smile and asked, "Where are we headed?"

"Somewhere." Kat replied, knowing that the location was not to be shared with him.

"Still having trust issues with me, huh?" He said with his gruff voice as he gave a short laugh.

"Not really. We just want to be careful, that's all." She defended.

James had joined the cause recently and was yet prove his worth to Vergil. His intel had been accurate but not without dangers. They had always been attacked but James had always known how to deflect the attacks. That ease with which he dealt with the demons made him seem suspicious. But more than that, since he was an informant surveying the Tower itself, they doubted his allegiance to the Order.

James gave Kat a sly look and acknowledged her trepidation with a nod and said, "Cool. Let's go then."

* * *

As the three drove back into the city, the mood in car was anything but jovial. Rayven stared out the window, her mind deep in thought.

She felt sad about leaving her home and saying her goodbyes to the only family she knew. She was worried about their safety. But Cuthbert had assured her that everything would be fine. But that wasn't the only thought going on in her mind. She was confused at Vergil's behavior with her. He seemed cold and distant to her. 'What did I do?' she pondered.

On the passenger side in the front, Dante was lost in his own confusion. He had begun to second guess his actions from the balcony. He behaved with Rayven the way he would with any other girl. But the feeling was not the same nor was she just any other girl. He was worried that Rayven would be upset and would want nothing to do with him.

Vergil instead was feeling anxious to say the least. He had the information that he needed. His work had managed to distract his mind from the events of the night before. He plans were going to hopefully come to fruition and success would be theirs. He gripped the steering wheel tightly and concentrated on the road, his mind busy planning the next move.

The car sped through the open roads as the hazy skyline of the city was visible in the far distance. Silver Sacks Tower was hard to miss as it proudly stood tall, towering above all other structures. Its menacing shadow falling on them.

As they entered the city, the silence in the car was interrupted by the ring of Vergil's cell phone. All their attention diverted towards the phone lying in between the front seats. He picked it up and put it to his ears, one hand on the steering wheel.

"Yes." He spoke firmly into the phone and listened intently to the reply. The other two couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying.

"Alright. We are almost there."He said with authority and hung up.

Ten minutes later, he pulled into an empty side street and stopped the car. Turning to Dante and Rayven he said, "We have to make a pit-stop."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 12

James looked out the window as their car sped along the streets of the city. He sat upright with one hand on the window sill and the other playing with his phone. He was shaking his left leg with anxiety and his palms were sweaty. He looked at Kat and then back to the road. He closed his eyes and his mind went back to the events of the past few weeks.

He had been asked to shadow one of the senior board members of the bank at Tower. He had been asked to follow Duncan Edwards. The heavy set, bespectacled man with a bad temper was one of Kyle's most trusted and high ranked partners. He was known to be the muscles of the company because of his unconventional interrogation methods. He had a posse of assistants working for him, waiting on him hand and foot, carrying out his activities. They took care of all of his official and unofficial business. James had known that to do justice to his job he had to work closely with him. It was dangerous but he was without options.

He had dressed up to look like one of them. Sharp business suit, polished shoes, sleek hair and a briefcase for show. He had blended in perfectly and had done so for the past few months. But a couple of weeks ago, he was caught snooping around Duncan's office. And instead of handing him to the police, the security personnel had taken him straight to Duncan. That man had tortured him endlessly, beaten him and had threatened to kill all of his family. He was then brought before Mundus, who tortured him further and asked him to prove his loyalty in return of his family's safety. James had made the difficult choice.

He shook his head, opened his eyes and returned back to reality. His head turned towards the window and his eyes widened looking at the surroundings. His association with Duncan had made the surveillance network of the entire city available at his disposal. Even though Vergil had not revealed the meeting point, he was able to find it out by tapping into the cell phone network. But this street was leading somewhere else. 'This isn't the way to the port!' He thought worriedly as he turned his attention to Kat.

Her eyes were focused and lips pursed. She surged ahead and was unaware of the frowned look that James gave her.

"Umm...are you sure we are going the right way?" he asked blankly trying to mask the fear in his voice.

"Yeah. We are." She didn't reveal any more.

After going through several detours they came to stop at a construction site. James lowered his head to look at the building. It looked to be half-done, the glass panels stopped abruptly in the air. The construction seemed to have stopped mid-way just like every third project around the city. Builders were unable to cope with the increasing demands of the bank and so they preferred to shut their sites to cut costs. 'It's a shame.' thought James looking at what could have been an impressive structure.

"Are we there?" he asked, not shifting his focus from the building.

"Yeah." Kat replied, switching off the ignition and slipping the seat-belt away. "Come on!"

They stepped out and walked over to the clearing on the side. James began to look around, trying to find some hint of where he was. But all he saw was half plastered walls, metal bars and loose soil. Construction equipment lay scattered across the ground and the wind blew the dust around in the air. Where the hell was he?

He turned around towards the path where they walked in from but it was no use. He had no idea where he was. He started to sweat profusely, his hair sticking to his face and eyes frowned in worry. He was afraid, very afraid and his throat going dry at his predicament. This was not going according to plan.

"James! It's good to see you."

He turned around at the sound and saw Vergil standing with a smirk on his face. His hands holding his cane in front of him. There were two more people behind him. He squinted his eyes to get a better look but with all the dust in the air he could barely make out their faces. All he saw was two translucent masses, one tall and one shorter.

"You have no idea, Vergil." he answered wearily. His face slowly showing a hint of worry.

Vergil started walking forward towards James and asked "How have you been?"

"Been better." he replied with a mock grin.

"Did you get what we need?"

James appeared disturbed by the question.

He knew what they wanted but he also remembered what his newest employer had ordered him to do. He was to get to the location, throw them off track and lure them towards the trap. But this sudden change of their meeting point had posed a huge problem. He knew that Vergil suspected him. He had to say something.

"Uhh...the demons having been staking out locations trying to find our subjects. They are being very careful. Not leaving any room for error or making a misstep. As soon as they figure out where to find them, I'll let you know."

Vergil narrowed his eyes at his reply, knowing fully that he was lying. Vergil never trusted him. He was of weak determination and his intentions were sly. Vergil had sent some of his members to follow James and had found the truth. He simply looked at him and shook his head and asked, "Is that so?"

"Ye..yes..." James replied. His voice almost creaked.

Vergil simply raised his left hand and motioned the two individuals at the back to come forward. His eyes did not leave James for a single moment. James's attention on the other hand was drawn towards the two who walked ahead. And as they came into view, he recognized them. Dante and Rayven, their faces were imprinted in his brain.

"H...h..how did you find them?" he asked, his voice was panicking. They should have been dead by now.

"I have my ways." Vergil answered giving him a cold stare.

"Bet he didn't count on us being alive." Dante said sarcastically looking at Rayven.

She turned to look at Dante, simply shook her head and said," I don't think so." Turning her head towards James, she saw the tall man with worry in his eyes and heaving chest as his breathing became rapid. She grinned and said,"It so sucks to be you right now."

He appeared flustered and swallowing slowly said, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Vergil who by now had moved close to James and was standing in front of him, staring deep into his eyes.

"Are you sure about that?"

He waited for James to confess but the man simply looked sideways and remained mum. Vergil's face grew red with anger. He reached up and grabbed each end of James's jacket near his neck and gripped it tight as he spoke through his teeth," Were you really thinking that we wouldn't find out?"

The remaining three just stood at their spot just focused on Vergil and James. Neither wanting to interrupt the proceedings.

James put his hands over Vergil's trying to release himself but his grip was firm. But James was just simply jerked around as Vergil gripped him tighter.

"I can't believe this. You still don't trust me?"

"There is good reason behind why I don't."

"Then why did you send me on the job?"

"I wanted to see it for myself." Vergil hissed through his teeth.

"See what?" James eyes soon matched the anger in Vergil's.

"See how low you could possibly stoop."

Vergil's eyes were still focused on his and he just shook his head in disappointment and let him go. He started to walk away towards the exit, not wanting to spend a minute near the man. Kat started to follow him out. Dante and Rayven, both stared at James as they walked away.

They were still faced away from James as Vergil spoke, "I want you out of the organization. You will have nothing to do with us from now on."

He quickly turned around and looked James in the eye.

"You should be grateful that I haven't killed you yet. Don't do anything stupid to make me change my mind."

James dropped his head down and shaking it gave a dry laugh. He couldn't believe it. All the risks he had taken, all the torture he had endured. All seemed to go in vain. There was no way in which he would gain Vergil's trust. If he pursued him any further, he would surely be shot in the head. And now considering his failure to complete the task, if he went back to the Tower, to Mundus, his family would be butchered in front of him while he would be skinned alive. He was going to be killed either way. 'There is no I am going down without a fight.' He thought.

"You think you can get rid of me so easily?" He said venomously.

They paid no heed to his taunt. And suddenly there was a click. They all turned around at the sound, only to find James standing with his right arm stretched forward holding a gun aimed at them.

A low gasp emitted from Rayven. The man had lost his senses. Dante moved towards her protectively as Vergil moved forward towards James.

"I told you not to do anything stupid." he warned, his eyes flaring in anger.

"Yeah. You did." he spat. "But as you can see, no matter what I do, I'm dead. So I figured, I might as well be of slight use before I go. I kill you, I save my family." he grinned evilly and aimed the gun straight at him.

Vergil moved forward swiftly and tried to flick the gun away. He held James's hand in the air and punched him in his gut. James dropped backwards at the hit but was not giving up without a fight. He used all of his strength to push Vergil backwards, still trying to aim the gun at his head. It hovered dangerously close to Vergil's temple. His other arm trying to make contact with Vergil's chin.

It was at this crucial moment that both Dante and Rayven lunged ahead trying to pacify the crazed man. Dante reached first and tried to pull James away while Vergil attempted to grab his gun. But the madness had given James unthinkable strength and neither was able to overpower him quickly.

Rayven stood at the back, behind Vergil not sure of what to do. She knew that she would be able to kill him easily. In that case what difference would remain between her and the demons. She moved forward attempting to create distance between James and Vergil. But at that moment James had managed to snag his hand that held the gun free of Vergil's grasp and fired it at random.

The shot echoed through the entire surroundings and the birds perched atop the building flew away in fear.

The out of control man suddenly stopped moving. Vergil punched James in his face and he fell backwards, dropping his gun to the ground. He looked up smirking at Dante but instead of relief he saw his eyes wide open in shock looking forward. Vergil quickly turned around only to see Rayven with her head dropped downwards and her left hand clutching her chest. His attention turned to her hand. He was frozen at his spot. Blood was seeping through it and the morning sun it glowed a dark crimson.

Kat had her eyes wide open at the unfolding events. 'This can't be happening.' She thought in fear.

Rayven fell to ground, her hand still clenching her chest. The pain was unimaginable. As she fell, it seemed as if the whole world slowed down and every sound faded away.

Dante ran to her dropping James to the ground. He fell to his knees and pulled her up in his arms. He moved her hand away to assess the wound. Her white shirt was stained red in a circular shape, glistening in the light. The bullet had penetrated right through and she was bleeding heavily.

"Stay with me, Piggles." he cried bringing her bloodied hand to his lips.

She looked up at him and smiled. Her eyes feeling heavy. She had started to remember the best moments of her life. Her kiss with Dante. The chat with Vergil under her mother's tree. The time when Cuthbert got her the apartment. Her first time riding her horse with Dad. Her mother fussing over her bruised knee. And the little boy who called her 'Piggles'.

She had never been shot before and was probably dying. 'Is this how it felt?' She closed her eyes and then there was silence.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 13

Duncan Edwards stood at the huge window of his office, hands behind his back, and his mind deep in thought. Although it looked like he stared at the view outside, his attention was elsewhere. His eyebrows were frowned, his nose flared making his glasses lift upwards slightly. His mouth, curled in an ugly manner.

He had entrusted a huge responsibility to James. He had been just what Duncan had needed to infiltrate the opposition, throw them off track as the demons moved in for the kill. A pawn he could easily use and throw as needed. But knowing the ease with which James had switched sides, he wondered if the human was truly loyal. He was in no mood to wait and find out. So, he had a bunch of collaborators on close watch.

He brought his hands to the front and cracked his knuckles. The phone on his desk was ringing constantly. He turned his head towards it but he was in no mood to attend it. He was waiting for a confirmation that the mission had been successful.

The incessant ringing finally stopped and Duncan returned to look out the window. The phone started ringing again. Just then, there was a knock on the door and a young man opened it slightly and said, " Sir, you're phone has been ringing since a long time."

Duncan closed his eyes in anger, not pleased with the disturbance. 'Fucking idiot!'

He opened his eyes and still facing the window he spoke, "What part of 'I don't want to be disturbed.' don't you understand?"

The man was taken aback by his tone but gulped and proceeded to explain," Sorry, Sir. But it's 'him' on the line."

Duncan turned around, his face still twisted in anger and walked to the desk to pick the phone and with a wave of his hand dismissed his assistant.

He waited for the door to close and then lifted the receiver and spoke into it.

"Yes?"

"Do we have good news?"

"Not yet. But soon we will."

"Are you sure we can trust the vermin?" asked the voice with anger.

"No we can't." Duncan replied with strong determination.

"So?"

Duncan gave out a long sigh, smirked and replied, "So...let's just say, it's time to lay the traps."

* * *

"Open your eyes, Piggles!" Dante yelled with all his might, shaking the immobile body in his arms.

"Rayven!" He screamed again, this time his voice laden with worry. She gave no reaction and was not moving.' She cannot die.' They had just recently met after years of being lost from one another. He was not going to lose her again. And there was the previous night. They had to figure out so many things. No way was she leaving like this. He felt a part of him slowly becoming hollow, like it was fading. He never felt like that before, ever. He was truly worried and pissed at the same time.

Vergil's whole body went stiff in shock. He had not expected this turn of events. He brought them both here so that he could confront James with the truth. He turned around to look at James who lay sprawled on the ground, nursing his bruised jaw. Vergil's face was red with anger and his eyes spewed venom. That fool had shot Rayven and by the looks of it, the damage was severe. 'Please don't die Rayven.' His mind pleaded.

Just as he was about to get to the injured man, Dante ran ahead of him swiftly and lifted James by his collar. He did so with ease and smashed him against the wall of the building. The weak wall shook in response and stray bricks fell to the ground.

"You fucking bastard! What the hell did you do?"

Dante stared straight at him, his mouth pursed and face distorted in anger. He pulled James forward and bashed him against the wall again causing a portion of the wall to collapse.

"Make no mistake. I am going to rip you apart." He threatened.

Vergil stepped forward, unsheathed his sword, gritted his teeth and said, "Yes, your stupidity is going to cost you dearly."

He walked ahead, stood next to Dante and placed the blade of his sword on James's neck.

"There is no way you're leaving this place alive." he said gravely.

A harsh gasp emitted from James and sweat dripped from his forehead. He was trapped with no room for escape. He hadn't meant to shoot the girl. He was aiming for Vergil. 'I'm a goner for sure.' His eyes fluttered rapidly from one brother to the other. His eyes glistened with the tears forming slowly.

"No use crying now, is it?" Dante taunted him.

By now Kat was leaning close to Rayven's body. She tried to feel any sense of movement but failed to do so. She panicked. How was this possible? She had seemed so strong. But the shot had gone straight through her heart and since the wound was severe, a lot of blood was lost. Kat closed her eyes in sorrow, a small tear trickled through her eyelids.

The three men stood in the same position with James staring at Vergil, their eyes locked firmly. Suddenly his attention was drawn towards the gap in between the twins' shoulders. He gave out loud gasp and his eyes went wide in shock.

"Man, that hurt!"

The twins turned around at the sound. They couldn't believe their eyes. Kat snapped her eyes open and her jaw dropped at the sight in front of her.

Rayven slowly stood up, her face flinched slightly and her hand moved upwards to clutch her chest. She shook her head and looked at the eyes staring at her in disbelief.

"What?" she asked, not understanding their reason behind the looks she was getting.

"You guys look like you saw a ghost. Did you guys forget that I'm nephilim?" She said while smirking and turning to look at Kat. Her face was frozen in shock.

"What?" She asked again.

Kat, still staring at Rayven said haltingly, "Th...The bullet went through your heart. You lost a lot of blood." And she pointed to her wound.

Rayven dropped her head to look at it and annoyingly said," Com' on! That thing's gonna' stain."

She looked up at the three men and said, "James! You idiot! It was my favorite shirt."

James's body went cold and he gave out a shudder in fear. 'She is still alive! How is that possible?'

Vergil turned around and gave him an evil smirk. He had been foolish to forget that fact and his worry was in vain. His attention was back on the sword at James's neck.

Dante looked at Rayven and smiled in relief. He felt like an idiot for thinking she would die so easily. She was a nephilim and had healed herself. Rayven looked back at him and smirked. Her attention went to the man in Vergil's clutches. She gave him a sly smirk and said, "It's gonna take more than a stupid bullet to get rid of me."

Dante gave out short laugh and stated, "No kidding."

Just then there was a loud shrieking sound. Everyone turned towards the sound, trying to spot what had made it. Dante and Vergil loosened their grip on James as their attention got diverted. James used this as an opportunity to slip away. He slid out of their clutches and started to run away from them.

"Hey!" yelled Dante as he started to run after him. The remaining three followed in close pursuit.

He ran through the compound and out to the streets. Not looking back he surged ahead. He had to save himself. He came into an old courtyard. Arched corridors all around, an ornate fountain in the center. He had never been in this part of the town before.

He stopped for a second to catch his breath and turned around to spot Dante hot on his tail. The others weren't far behind either. He turned to run in the opposite direction, but James didn't get very far. He suddenly collapsed on the ground facing downwards. All of them halted near him and looked each other in surprise.

Dante looked at Vergil for an answer but just got a shrug in return. He walked up to the fallen man, reached over and turned him around. There was a small bullet hole in James's forehead, it was bleeding and his breathing had stopped. He was dead.

Dante looked up and found that everyone was standing and staring in shock. Almost immediately there was a low growl. Dante stood up and turned to look behind.

"AAGGHHH..."

It was a man with his eyes dark and his hands spread forward. His mind clearly out of his control.

"A Spotter. Fucking demon collaborators." Vergil said as he threw a short knife to the man's chest.

The world around them had started to shift and change. The walls collapsed inward and large voids appearing in the ground. Long squeals were being heard in the background. The groans of doors shutting and walls collapsing filled the air. Rayven turned sideways to look at Kat. She was beginning to fade away. She knew what was happening.

Vergil turned his attention back to Dante and said," You're both being dragged into limbo. Kat will get you out. Stay firm!"

Vergil started to run as he faded away, knowing fully that he was not to be discovered. He saw both Dante and Rayven disappear. They were lost in Limbo. He looked at Kat who simply nodded and knew what she had to do.

She ran ahead into the street. She looked everywhere, assessed the area and found the perfect spot. Dropping to her knee she removed the stencil from her back and using the can, transferred the design onto the ground. The design started to glow, indicating that it was indeed the accurate spot of the rift.

She knew that they could hear her, so she yelled at the top of her voice, "Guys! The gateway is ready. Come on!"

Back inside Limbo, Dante and Rayven stood across from one another. They looked around and saw the environment change. The sky glowed in an ominous orange and the places where there were voids in ground, looked like a never ending pit. The street lamps were converted into distorted stumps. And an inhumanly roar filled the air.

"I hate this place." yelled Dante.

Rayven looked back him and just smiled. "Givin' up already?" she teased him.

Dante cracked his head from one side to the other. Rayven recognized the action. She had seen Vergil do the same. They were twins after all.

"No way! Just gettin' warmed up." he replied jokingly.

No sooner did he say so, long squeals filled the surroundings and out through the ground, breaking through the cracks came out nasty looking demons. Each looked as boney and lanky as the others. Some had shields and others held maces while some were flying. Soon they were surrounded.

"Here comes the welcome wagon!" Dante said sarcastically as his sword appeared onto his back out of thin air.

Rayven simply smirked as her sword appeared in her arm and said, "Well, let's not keep them waiting then!"

They both lunged forward in opposite direction. Striking each demon with grave force. As the demons fell, more of them took their place. But neither of the nephilims grew tired. They charged forward with force not giving any room for the demons to recover.

Rayven swiped the demon across its chest and kicked at the other trying to take aim. She struck her sword downwards, splitting the demon in half. She was soon surrounded by almost half a dozen demons, each with its weapon raised. She smirked and waited for them to come closer as she brought her sword to the front. As soon as they were within reach she swiveled around and sliced through each of them, killing them effectively. She then turned her attention towards Dante.

He was busy trying to take out the shielded demon with his red scythe. No sooner did he do so another similar demon took its place. He swung his arm sideways and attacked it with full force. The demon flew backwards and Dante struck it in its chest to finish it. He soon turned his attention to the flying ones. He was busy firing at the flying demon with his guns when suddenly a demon struck him from behind. Rayven gasped and ran forward but before she could reach him, Dante turned around and struck it hard with his sword. He then fired back the demons flying in mid air and as they fell he yelled, "Flying rats!"

Soon all the demons were destroyed and just as they were about to move ahead trying to find a way out. They heard a voice echo, "Guys! The gateway is ready. Come on!" It was Kat. She had found a way.

They turned around at the sound and realizing where it came from, ran towards it. Dante held onto Rayven's hand as they ran forward. Soon they came to the opening and spotted the glowing yellow design of the gateway. Dante and Rayven looked at each other and smiled. But just then the moment was interrupted by a machine-like buzzing in the background. They turned sideways to spot a large sized demon charging at them with a chainsaw.

"This just keeps getting better and better." Dante grumbled under his breath.

"You're not scared, are you?" Rayven challenged him.

"Not a chance!"

They quickly split away on either side as it came forcefully on them. It overshot them and as it did, Dante struck a blow at it on its back. Rayven rolled back up and using her sword did the same. The demon turned around to attack them but it was outnumbered. It was barely able to make a move. Their fierce strikes left it weak and soon with a final swipe they defeated it. Its entrails flew into the air and some came to fall on them.

"Yuck! I am going to stink." exclaimed Rayven annoyingly.

"I know!" Dante said, his face sporting a sly grin. "I could help you clean up."

Rayven looked up at him, knowing fully what he meant to say, she raised her eyebrows and teased back, "But you haven't had any training yet."

He simply smirked and gave out a short laugh and took her hand and ran towards the exit and jumped onto the gateway.

Soon they were back in the real world with Kat staring at them in wonder. He looked back at Rayven, smirked again and said," Well, from the other day, you do owe me a lesson."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 14

After the unwanted excitement of the day, they finally returned back to the Order. The low hummed chatter of the place was a welcome change from the excruciating squeals of the demons. All volunteers worked furiously at their designated positions. Some were busy analyzing the data collected while others busy discussing their next political tactics. The place was buzzing with activity. The abnormal normality of the place surprised both Rayven and Dante.

Vergil directed Rayven towards the rest rooms at the back to clean up. She was in dire need of a change, what with all the blood and demon entrails. As they walked by, Rayven observed the surroundings. The widows were closer to the ceiling. The outside rays of light penetrated through the blinds. The corridor was lined with large racks full of files and books. The air was musky with the smell. She gave a short sniff. 'That's a lot of books.'

She turned attention to the man ahead of her. He had an air of confidence and authority around him. He walked with a certain grace and poise. But his face showed no emotion, just blankness. It was hard to read him. And since last night he had been behaving awkwardly with her. She just couldn't figure out why.

Soon they reached their destination and Vergil opened the door and led Rayven inside.

"Well, this is it." He stated simply as he moved towards the closet.

She looked around and saw very little furniture. A single bed at the opposite end, a side table next to it and a lamp on top glowing in the darkness. The closet was on her right and Vergil seemed to be rummaging through it, grumbling under his breath, clearly not finding what he was looking for. She just stood in the middle of the room, staring at the closet not wanting to interrupt him while he was in a questionable mood.

Finally, after a good fifteen minutes he brought out a long sleeved grey t-shirt. A men's t-shirt. She just kept looking at him not knowing what to do or say.

He handed it to her and said, "It's an old one, has shrunk a bit. So, it should fit you. I hope."

She just blankly looked at him, then the shirt and just reached out to take it from him. She grabbed the shirt but he didn't leave it. Her eyes snapped up at him quizzically. He was staring at her. She tugged at it but he still held on to it.

"What are you doing ?" She asked, irritated at his mood swings.

He still held a firm grip on the material and while staring at her said, " I am glad you're alive."

She stared right back and saw genuine worry in his eyes. But she was still confused with his behavior with her and was mad at him for not telling her why.

"Me too." She replied dryly and looked away, waiting for him to loosen his grip.

Vergil leaned downwards to her and pulled the shirt towards him, as if to catch her attention and said, "I mean it, Rayven."

She turned to look back at him and realized that he was far too close. He stared deep into her eyes. She felt a shudder going through her body, an electric jolt. 'What's happening to me?' Her mind asked.

Neither said a word for long time. They just stared at each other, not talking, not moving.

Her eyes were like an endless pool, almost hypnotic and he was drowning in them. He had never felt drawn towards someone this way. His mind was in turmoil. His eyes travelled all over her face and came to rest on her lips. 'Just a little closer and they are yours.' He thought and attempted to lean in closer, when suddenly Rayven let go of the shirt and stepped back.

Vergil couldn't believe it. He had been far too brazen with her. 'What have you done to me?' His eyes asked but all he did was keep the shirt on the bed and walked out, closing the door behind him.

* * *

"You guys have a lotta stuff." Dante said looking around and pointing to the array of computers.

He was trying to make a vague conversation with Kat to pass the time. His eyes glanced at the corridor leading to the back, now and then. It had been a good half hour since Vergil and Rayven went inside. 'What could possibly be taking so long?' he wondered.

Even though Vergil was his brother, they had only just met and Dante's trust in him was negligent. Sure, he was a true gentleman in the sense of things but Rayven was one of a kind. When Dante had met her, it felt like she put him under a spell and he was ensnared. 'Who's to say Vergil wouldn't fall the same way?' Dante shook his head to snap out of that thought. 'I'm sounding like a jealous boyfriend.' He paused at that thought. 'Boyfriend? Where did that come from?' True they had fun before, a lot of it. And true he had kissed her the night before. But he wasn't the boyfriend type and they were never together in that sense anyway. Then what were they?

"Dante! Are you alright?" Kat asked him worriedly.

He snapped up to look at her and realized that he had tuned her out completely, while she had been talking to him.

"Sorry, what'd you say?" he winced his eyes and asked with a soft smirk.

Just as she was about to reply, Vergil walked back to the room and found the two staring at him. Dante was disappointed to see that it wasn't Rayven but at least Vergil wasn't with her.

Vergil stared back at Dante and looked sideways immediately, feeling guilty for his actions with Rayven a moment earlier. To cover his anxiety, he looked at Kat and said, "Check on her and ask if she needs anything else."

Kat nodded and turned to walk to the back room.

* * *

Rayven stood inside the bathroom, staring at her reflection in the mirror. Her wet hair dripping water onto her shoulders and seeping into the towel wrapped around her torso. Her life had changed dramatically since the last time she was in front of a mirror.

She met the twins and Kat, found out she was a nephilim, discovered the identity of her parents and to top it off, she was shot at.

She shook her head, trying to empty her mind and concentrate on getting ready. She dressed herself quickly and reached to grab the t-shirt Vergil left for her. She leaned on the edge of the basin counter, staring at it.

She knew that he had attempted to kiss her earlier and every nerve in her body had wanted the same. The way he stared deep in her eyes, it felt like he was staring into her soul. And somewhere inside, she had felt a surge of energy which had jolted her back to reality. The moment had been unexplainable. Then there was 'Tony'. Well, Dante. The boy who had saved her when she was younger and took care of her. The boy she had cried over after getting separated from. And he had been the man who had saved her few days ago. The same man whose kiss still tingled on her lips and whose touch had affected her the same way. And now, she was stuck in between the two brothers.

She gave out a long sigh and walked out the door while pulling the t-shirt over her head. There was a knock on the door just as she sat on the bed to wear her boots. She looked upwards at the door, which opened to reveal Kat walking in.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were inside." She said pointing to the bathroom door.

Rayven smiled and said," It's alright."

Kat smiled back, happy that she was not imposing herself on Rayven.

"Do you have everything you need? Vergil asked me to check on you."

Rayven gave out a sigh and returned to put her boots on. "I see."

"So you've known him for long, huh?" She asked while tying her boots.

Kat just stood near the door and looked at her. She had never expected Rayven to talk to her. She walked closer and said, "Yeah. It's been a while."

"You guys are together then?"

Kat shifted from side to side, feeling slightly uncomfortable at the question. Rayven wasn't the first to ask this. But whenever someone did, she felt like running away and hiding. She was very guarded and never opened up to anyone. She folded her hands and stood with her head leaning downwards, staying mum the whole time.

Rayven stood up after she was done and looked at Kat waiting for an answer. She shrugged her shoulder and asked, "So?"

Kat looked up at her and replied, "It's not like that." She was feeling guilty for some reason. Like she was hiding the truth.

She looked at the woman in front of her. She had begun to admire her courage and strength. Not once had she shown any sign of fear. She felt envious of Rayven in many ways.

"He's just my boss." she said timidly.

Rayven just gave her a smile and nodded. The woman was naive and was unaware of what everyone else could clearly see. She hoped Vergil saw it too. Probably then he would be happier and not so cold. Vergil deserved someone like Kat. But she knew in her heart that he had already made up his mind. That half attempt at a kiss was not accidental. His intentions were clear.

"You trust him far too much for him to be just your boss." Rayven stated as a matter of fact.

"But it's a fact! He saved me, gave me a chance to fight back. I admire him, nothing more." Kat defended.

Rayven was quick with her response. "Are you sure about that?" She smirked slightly and continued, "You should see how your face lights up with him around."

Kat's face flushed at the statement. Her palms became sweaty and her nerves were on end. She couldn't meet her eyes. She simply looked sideways.

Rayven smirked at her reaction, walked up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder said, "Relax. I won't rat you out. Your secret's safe with me."

She walked out the door and Kat just stared back at. Her mind was confused at Rayven's bold statement. 'Could it be true?' Kat thought. She just chose her to erase that thought and walked out behind her.

* * *

Dante had been sitting on the edge of the side table, sipping on soda while waiting for Rayven to return. He completely ignored Vergil, who was busy talking to some of the volunteers. His attention was focused on the corridor to the back and on Rayven.

He stared at his reflection in the blank computer screen and the face of a lifeless Rayven flashed before his eyes. He winced them close and breathed heavily. His mind was drawn back to the events of this morning. When he had seen her drop to the ground, it felt like his heart had stopped beating. When he held her, he had felt emptiness and sorrow inside. 'Piggles. You are doing something to me. I just don't know what.'

His thoughts were interrupted when Rayven walked into the room. Kat followed closely and stepped to the side.

Rayven looked to her right at Vergil. He was wearing a grey shirt similar to what he gave her to wear. He was leaning over some plans and talking animatedly. His blue pendant dangling from his neck, glowing in the light. He was still busy with the volunteers. She turned to looked at Dante and smiled. He had dressed down as well. His coat lay hanging on the back rest of the chair. Her attention went to the green can in his hand and she shook her head.

"You know that it isn't healthy, right?" She said pointing to the can in his hand.

Vergil's head snapped up at the sound of her voice. Her hair shone in the dim light penetrating through the blinds. Her face shone brightly, all signs of battle washed away. As he glanced over, he stopped when he noticed that she was wearing his shirt. His breath came in halts and he was having a hard time concentrating. He felt guilty for being too audacious before. He had to get away before Rayven saw how she had affected him. He turned his attention towards the two men in front asked them to follow him as he walked out.

Dante just smirked and said, " Good to see you cleaned up." His mouth then turned into a devilish grin and continued, " Although, I hate that I wasn't there with you."

"Thank you." Rayven replied and moving in front of him, poked him in his stomach. His attention going downward. She slowly trailed her finger up his torso, up to his chest and said slowly, "But I'm far too much for you to handle."

'Phew!' Dante blew out air through his mouth and smirked. 'I know you are.'

She flicked his chin, not waiting for his clever quip and turned to Kat, whose face was a whole new color of red.

"So, what's our next plan of action?"

"We get to Mundus!"

All three heads turned towards the door where Vergil stood with a sly smile on his face.

* * *

"Silver Sacks Tower. The world's most powerful investment bank. And who runs it?" Vergil said typing on the keyboard and looking at the computer screen in front of him.

Kat stood on his left, staring at the screen with her hands behind her back as always. Dante was to his right, half sitting on the table, the soda can still in his hands. Rayven stood at the back, looking at the screen between the twins' shoulders. She looked at Dante and gave a disapproving glare as he sipped his drink. When she had tried it once, it had tasted vile.

Vergil clicked on something and the pictures of a menacing, hefty bald man's pictures appeared on the screens. Some were photographs, others newspaper screenshots.

"CEO, Kyle Ryder. A human vessel : a physical manifestation of Mundus, the demon king."

Dante and Rayven didn't know what to say. The man in the picture was the target, their enemy. The man who had destroyed the life of their parents and in turn destroyed their own. He had changed the course of their future. He looked scary, ugly and the three marks on his forehead did nothing but enhance the fact. They simply stared at the screen and listen as Vergil continued on.

"Through debt, he controls everything. To Mundus, the world is a factory farm for human souls. And he likes to keep his animals monitored and docile."

Kat stood by Vergil's side in silence. He was clearly in his element while presenting his findings to the other two. And she knew that he liked that they were intently listening to his words.

He clicked another few keys and the computer screen displayed images of CCTV cameras and another tall tower with antennas all around the top.

"The monitoring is done by Raptor News Corporation, a global network of CCTV cameras, satellites and spies. It's Duncan Edwards's job to run the corporation as per Mundus's command."

Rayven suddenly put two and two together and with her eyes wide open said, "So that's how they followed James!"

Vergil explained, "They had been monitoring James for quite some time."

"Even though he was on their side?" Dante asked.

Vergil simply nodded and said, "Though Duncan got James on his side, he never did trust him. All he needed was someone to do their dirty work for them. And then once they got what they wanted, they finished him."

Rayven just shook her head in contempt and said, "So if you're human, it doesn't matter what side you're on. You cross them, your dead. You work with them, your dead." She looked at Dante and continued, "Kinda makes killing them a lot less complicated, don't you think?"

Dante just nodded and looking at Vergil asked, "What about keeping the humans...docile - did you say?"

Vergil who up until now was looking at the two turned his attention back to the screen and clicked and the pictures changed again.

"The way he keeps us docile...is a little more insidious."

Dante asked, "What is it?" while taking a sip from the soda can.

Vergil and Kat both turned to look at him, then the can and said," It's in your hand. Planet Earth's most popular soft drink: Virility."

Dante looked at the can and spit the drink from his mouth into the dustbin near him. He then tossed the can into it as well. Vergil continued, "The demons have spiked it."

"Told you it wasn't healthy."Rayven teased him.

Vergil laughed at Dante's actions and said," It's ok! It has no effect on us. Only humans. It's lobotomy in a can."

Dante gave out a small huff and asked, "So what's the plan?"

Vergil pointed to the new image on the computer screen and explained," That's the Hell Gate. A conduit from which Mundus draws his powers. While he is connected to the Hell Gate, his immortal."

"But if we get him away from the Hell Gate, our swords will do the rest."

"The catch however is that he must not get a hold of Rayven. Her blood will render him even more powerful and give him immortality forever. It will be impossible to kill him then, Hell Gate or not." He said as he looked worriedly at Rayven.

Rayven stiffened at the thought. She wanted him dead. No way was Mundus getting her blood. Not even a drop.

Dante looked at her and with a nod gave her the unspoken assurance that he wouldn't let that happen. Turning to Vergil he asked," So how do we get him away from it?"

Vergil turned to look at him and replied, "We get his attention. Mundus is petty, he's impulsive. It we hit him where it hurts, let his anger rule him. I believe we can draw him out."

Dante nodded and said, "Ok, so to kill Mundus we need to draw him away from the Hell Gate. Keep him from getting his hands on some 'Rayven blood'." He pointed to Rayven and continued on, "And to drag him away, we need to piss him off."

Vergil smiled and said, "Roughly speaking? Yes."

"And we do that by taking out the Raptor News Network and Virility." Dante added.

"That's it."

"Awesome." Rayven muttered under her breath.

Dante looked at Rayven and then back at Vergil and asked, "Which one do you wanna do first?"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 15

The following morning after a night of good rest, Dante and Rayven were ready to leave for their first order of business. Each was eager and raring to go. Revenge was on their mind and success was important for their plans to gain momentum. Failure was clearly not the option.

Kat was to take them to the location and lead the way. Her expertise in occult sciences and her psychic ability were going to be put to the ultimate test today. She knew that this part of the plan was heavily dependent on her. Vergil had trusted her with it and she had to stay focused.

Vergil however was extremely confident of how things would go. Each of them had the skills to do their jobs justice. He had trained Kat well and she had been an excellent student. As for Dante and Rayven, he had seen the damage they could do without having to try hard. He knew they would return victorious.

Kat stood near the driver's door while Rayven and Dante waited to get in.

"They're aware of you now, so stay low. Mundus doesn't know I exist, so I'll remain hidden till we're ready to strike." Vergil explained as he waited for them to depart.

Dante and Rayven looked at each other, then back at Vergil and nodded in acknowledgement.

"Kat knows the Virility factory, what lies beneath. She will be your guide." he continued.

Kat simply sighed, nodded her head and got in the car. Dante and Rayven did the same. Vergil gave a short wave as they raced out.

'Now all they have to do is keep out of sight and they will be fine.' He thought. The only anxiety he felt was for Rayven's safety. She needed to be careful and not get caught. He had suggested that she stay back and let Dante go alone. But she had gotten offended at that option and said that she would go, with or without his consent or wish. He hadn't been able to argue with her and agreed reluctantly.

Vergil returned to his office and back to his computer. Sitting at his desk, he tried to focus on work. But his mind kept racing to what could happen at the factory. He hated having to sit by and watch. But if ever his existence was revealed to Mundus, their plan would fail. And they would have twice as many attacks on them.

He was unable to concentrate. His mind returned to the previous day when Rayven was shot. He didn't want it to happen again. His anger on the now deceased James returned. That man had almost killed her. His forehead frowned slightly and a rage started to build inside. A growl escaped his mouth and with a swipe of his hand, he smashed the keyboard and the contents on its side to the wall to his right. He sighed and bringing his elbows to rest on the table with his hands to his forehead, he closed his eyes and sighed. All he could do right now was wait.

* * *

"Is there any particular reason why even though we have a car, we are walking to the factory?" Rayven asked annoyingly as they walked on the streets.

There were several other people walking along. Each engrossed in their own world and ignoring them. Their low chatter filled the air. Other than that, it was all quiet. A short laugh came from behind and she turned. Dante had a smirk on his face as he walked behind her. He kicked the empty can on the ground as he stared. She looked sternly at him and shrugged.

"Like you don't wanna know." She snapped at him.

Kat had parked the car a good half an hour away from the factory and suggested they walk the rest of the way. Both Dante and Rayven had half-heartedly agreed. The reason for doing so was still incomprehensible to them.

Kat, who was walking ahead of them turned to look at her and said, "If something goes wrong then we don't want to be caught leaving in the same car. This way we can all escape and go in different directions." "Makes sense." Rayven smiled as she understood and continued to walk along.

Kat turned to look ahead and as her attention had been at the back, she failed to notice a large man walking towards her. She was about to slam into him but she composed herself and shifted to the side but so did he.

"Sorry." She said, shifted to the other side and continued forward with her head down.

The man just walked ahead without acknowledging her and sipped from the can. Rayven simply glared at him and then the can - Virility. 'How can people drink this crap?' She thought, disgusted at the man, shook her head and walked on. Dante on the other hand, smacked the can out of the man's grip and said, "It'll kill ya!"

Both the women turned around swiftly in shock. Rayven just shook her head and turned to look ahead. Kat in a hushed voice said, "Don't draw attention!"

However, Dante's simple action did attract the attention of one of the CCTV cameras and it suddenly zoomed in on them. No sooner did it do so, the ground started to tremble and the buildings started to shake.

"What the hell!" Rayven exclaimed as she looked around.

The environment started to deform and twist. The buildings de-constructing on the top. Portions of them, snapped in and out. As they did so, their groans and grunts filled the surroundings. The people around them started to phase out and so did Kat. They were being dragged into Limbo. The huge grills slammed shut behind them.

Dante exclaimed frustratingly, "Oh c'mon!"

Kat's eyes grew wide as the two faded out. This was strange. They were dragged into Limbo. But there was no demon in sight to do so. It had never happened before. She didn't know what to do. She looked around, panicking at her dilemma. She phased into Limbo to check on Dante and Rayven. And just as she did so, she heard Dante's voice echoing.

"Kat! They have dragged us into Limbo."

"What! How?" she exclaimed.

Rayven turned around at the sound. She saw a fuzzy looking Kat standing next to her. She gave her a smile and got a small one in return. They looked around, searching for an answer. Dante pointed towards the street end, suggesting they walk ahead. Rayven and Kat nodded.

As they came forward, they realized that it was a street junction with three streets converging at the center. The street which they had to follow had a stone archway adorned at the top. Kat's attention went upward and she spotted a CCTV camera at the arch above, aimed at them. Pointing to it she said, "The camera spotted you. They must have been looking out for you."

Their attention went upward and saw a flicker of movement in the camera as it adjusted its aim. It had spotted them. Suddenly the archway started to twist heavily with sections of it projecting inwards, closing it shut. Rayven turned to look at the others, smirked sarcastically and exclaimed, "I'm beginning to think that they don't like us very much."

Dante gave out a laugh. Kat shook her head and looking at them said, "You'll have to take it out!"

Dante sighed, irritated at the thought and said, "I know!"

No sooner did he do so, a horde of demons broke through the ground. They were armed and ready to go. Each of them jerking slightly as they attempted to strike. Dante rolled his eyes in contempt and pulled out his sword which had materialized on his back.

"And here comes trouble!" he said.

Rayven turned her attention to him. She had been busy assessing the demons that surrounded them. Her sword materialized in her hand as well and she was ready to attack. She wasn't scared. Instead, she was hoping to get a sort of warm-up before they went against the real thing. On the other hand, Kat gasped at the number. They were completely surrounded.

"Shit! I'm not safe here." Kat exclaimed.

Dante simply said, "Then go."

Kat disappeared completely, leaving Rayven and Dante to deal with monsters.

Dante looked back at Rayven, smiled and asked, "You ready to go?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" she yelled as she swung her sword at the demon closest to her. It flung backwards in surprise, leaving its torso bare for attack. Rayven swung her sword again, killing it instantly. The demons waiting eagerly at the back jerked their heads and gave out long squeals in response. She turned around at the sounds and saw Dante moving closer to them.

He ran at them and with a single swipe, hit two demons at once. They both staggered backwards in imbalance. Dante held his sword with both hands and struck them again. This time the strike was fatal and both the demons collapsed to the ground.

Rayven quickly ran forward to join him. She saw one of them slinking slowly towards Dante while his attention was drawn towards the front. She swung her arm upwards and struck it with full force. The strike was so hard that the demon was split in half and its parts flew upwards on either side.

The remaining demons growled and grunted in anger and started moving towards them. The ground trembled again and another horde broke through. The only way to escape was to destroy the camera. Dante and Rayven stood with their backs to each other as the demons slowly closed in. Rayven looked upwards trying to figure out a way to get to the camera. The camera was high up but there were chunks of the buildings protruding outward and some sections levitating which could be used as platforms to reach it.

She made up her mind and without looking at Dante said, "I think I know how to get up there. Cover for me!"

Dante acknowledged her by moving forward and beheading the demon nearby. Rayven ran ahead towards the levitating sections of the building. She swung her sword at the demons along the way. Neither of them was an equal match for her and they fell backwards defeated and destroyed. She reached the section and started to climb up.

Dante leaped upwards over the mace wielding demon and turned around swiftly to strike it at its back. It squealed at the attack and before it could recover, Dante sliced through it. But his victory was short lived as he was surrounded by about five more of them. He punched at the one that moved closer and as it fell back, Dante caught hold of its leg and threw it on the other ones. They collapsed to the ground, giving him the opportunity to look up at Rayven. She was almost at the camera.

'Whoa! She's fast.' he thought. The grunts of the demons bought him back to reality. And with fierce strikes and not losing his pace took out each of them one by one.

Rayven climbed up the last section and stood with her hands on her knees for a second to catch her breath. She looked upwards to spot the camera. She found that the camera was easily reachable. She held it with one hand and with the lens facing her said,"Thank you for tuning in." She then gave it a flying kiss and said, "Until next time!" as she grabbed it with both hands and yanked it out with full force. And as she did so, the twisted archway straightened and the street ahead became visible again. Rayven looked downwards at Dante and saw him staring up at her with his mouth curved in a smile. She threw the camera sideways. It slammed against the wall of the opposite building and fell to the ground in pieces. She then jumped off the structure and landed on the street.

"That was fun, right?" she exclaimed.

Dante smirked and as they walked out the archway said, "You could say that."

As soon as they walked out, the street ahead of them started to tremble and shake. It suddenly lifted upwards in pieces and immediately sank down into oblivion. Dante and Rayven leaped backwards as portions below them dropped as well.

"Whoa! Someone doesn't like us being here." He exclaimed, looking at Rayven who looked back at him and sighed.

"I told you so." she stated.

"The city itself is trying to stop you." Kat said as she phased in next to them.

"Great!" Rayven and Dante muttered at the same time.

Kat looked ahead and explained," Vergil sent me the camera locations for this area. Best avoid them if we can. Follow me."

They followed Kat as she ran through back alleys and side streets, avoiding all main streets and junctions. It was a longer route but they had no choice. They didn't want to spotted by another camera and be slowed down by the demon attacks. They ran for quite a distance and suddenly came to clearing. Soon the buildings around them started to shake.

Kat looked around and slowly said, "This isn't good."

The buildings shook and the street below them started to tremble and shatter.

"It's the walls! Get out of here." Kat screamed as she disappeared.

And immediately the walls started to close in on them. Dante and Rayven looked at each other in shock. Suddenly the wall towards Rayven's right closed in on her with a groan. She turned sideways to look and gasped as Dante pulled her away.

"Whoa!" she exclaimed and with her hand still in his, they started to run forward.

They ran ahead, avoiding all the walls closing on them. The walls crushed the cars parked on the streets. They jumped up on roads which had risen upwards. It looked like a total mess. They could see blurry silhouettes of the people in the real world. The people were running in panic. Dante ran ahead without paying any heed. Suddenly the road they were on dropped downwards and they dropped along with it into a dark alley. As they ran ahead, the road suddenly tilted forward and they lost their footing. They started to slide down towards a glowing light. Rayven had grasped onto Dante's arm for support. As they slid closer to it she realized it was glass and thought 'We're gonna crash into it.'

She winced her eyes shut as she screamed, "DANTE!"

No sooner did she do so; he pulled out his guns and started shooting at the glass. As it shattered, they slid right through and fell to the floor.

Rayven slowly opened her eyes and they were met by Dante's. That's when she realized that she had collapsed on top of Dante. She tried to get up but found that her arms were held by him. She looked back at him in surprise and saw that he was smirking devilishly at her.

"Piggles, you weren't kidding when you said that you like it on top." he teased as he let go of her.

She simply smiled as she got up and looking down at him said, "That's one way to test that theory."

He got up and stood in front of her, the smirk still pasted on his face. "We can test it any way you want." he teased further.

But before she could retort they heard a thundering noise and turned to look in its direction. They were inside a church and the benches had flung upwards and dropped making a loud sound. Suddenly Kat appeared in front of them and yelled, "It's chaos out here. But, I found a way out."

"Where?" One of them asked.

"There! I marked it!" she shouted, pointing towards the stained glass windows ahead. The glowing design of the gateway indicated the location of the rift.

Kat ran out through the door and gestured them to follow. Rayven and Dante started to run ahead as the walls of the church started to close in on them. Soon they came to the window and they crashed through. This time however they landed on their feet. Dante looked at Rayven as he got up, she was just straightening up.

He turned to look at Kat said, "It just seemed to drag on forever..." And walking forward, he looked back at Rayven said, "...Church!"

* * *

Duncan sat in his office at the Raptor News Corporation building with his mind deep in thought. The administrative offices were on this floor and the staff was busy at work. Even though his office doors were shut, he could still feel their presence. 'The stupid cattle make so much noise.' He thought as his mouth twisted upward in disgust. The humans were nothing more than poultry animals to them. Cheap and useful labor, just like James. He however had failed in his endeavor and had to be taken out. Duncan had authorized his termination and now they had to re-evaluate their strategy. Mundus had been anything but pleased.

Duncan had suffered a set-back. He shook his head and closed his eyes, trying to think of what to do next. Suddenly, the phone on his desk buzzed. He grumbled under his breath, picked up and grunted into the receiver.

"What?"

"Sir. W...we have a problem." The voice spoke haltingly. It was one of his assistants and he sounded scared. Neither of them had wanted to get on Duncan's bad side.

"What sort of problem?" Duncan almost barked into the phone.

"One of our cameras caught something. And it's not good."

"What do you mean by 'not good'?"

"Sir. I think you should see it for yourself."


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 16

As Dante and Rayven walked away from the church, they became aware of the destruction caused. Part of the structure had collapsed. Luckily there was no one inside. The police had arrived, causing them to take another detour. It was much longer but they were shielded from the cameras and the cops.

After walking for about thirty minutes, they finally reached the Virility factory. It was as industrial looking as any other factory with huge chimneys at the back. A thick smoke emitted from them. The signs with 'Virility' written on them were placed around the building in huge letters. There were buses with people coming to visit the factory.

They stopped outside the entrance and looked upwards at the huge sign. Kat looked at it as if trying to recollect and said," I was here years ago as a child. I explored the whole facility unseen."

Rayven walked next to Kat while Dante closely followed, as they entered the huge entrance. She continued, "I sensed a demon under the factory. The Succubus. An ancient one."

"We believe it's the source of the psychotropic ingredient. That's what they use to control us."

As they walked in, they were greeted with a very pristine and clinically clean looking environment. The huge hall had groups of people - visitors, observing the factory surroundings. There were large banners with the soft drink's name hanging from the high ceiling. There were huge flat screens constantly displaying the Virility commercial. To make it appear kid-friendly, a large scale model of the Virility mascot was constructed in the center. It was flanked by escalators on both sides. And a huge speaker system just ended playing a sound clip of the benefits of drinking Virility.

Kat pointed to the escalator going up, indicating that it was where they were to find what they were looking for. They stepped on to the escalator and the sound clip of started playing again.

"Welcome visitors to the Virility factory."

"Virility's secret ingredient is what makes Virility the number one soft drink in the world."

Rayven frowned at the irritating voice of the woman narrating. It sounded like nails on a black board to her. Kat stood a step ahead of her while Dante as always, was at the back. He too, cringed at the sound as the clip continued on.

"And best of all, it has been scientifically proven to improve weight loss by 21% and enhance sexual performance by 63% if drunk daily."

Rayven grinned and gave a short laugh at the same time. 'People believe in this shit?' She couldn't understand. She heard a similar reaction from Dante and turned to look at him. He was staring at the facility and looking up said, "How do people actually fall for this crap?"

Rayven smirked at him and raised her eyebrows and said, "Really? You're the one to ask."

"If you're told something is true often enough, you tend to believe it." Kat replied, without looking back. She had a sadness about her which Rayven had failed to notice earlier."They told me I was crazy for seeing demons."

"Yeah." said Dante. "They tried telling me I was a basket case too."

Rayven looked at Kat as she continued to ramble on, "They wanted to put me on drugs. Said it would make me better. They lied. They just wanted to keep me weak and docile."

Rayven turned to look ahead, not wanting to remember the past. Her childhood at the orphanage hadn't been any different. The pills, the needles, the pain. None of them had worked on her. The doctor had suggested a treatment that was the harshest. Its effect was the same as the drugs if not worse - useless. She closed her eyes and shook her head not wanting to stress on it.

Dante caught the change in Rayven's demeanor. He remembered the stories he had heard about her while at the orphanage. She had been on heavy medications back then. It was part of the reason why he had been drawn to her in the first place. She had been someone who he understood. He tried to change the subject, "How did you figure it all out?"

"Vergil pulled me out of the nightmare. You?" Kat turned around and asked.

Rayven continued to face forward but her ears were still focused on the conversation. Kat's question had been like a loaded gun. Rayven felt Dante's heartbeat pause at the question. It was like he was recalling something. Something dark. It was as though she could feel his sense of loneliness, anger and rage. She turned around as she felt Dante's anxiety. It was a weird feeling.

Dante stiffened at the question and after a short pause said, "I just knew in my heart I wasn't crazy."

Dante looked at Rayven who was staring back at him. He looked deep in her green eyes and felt a calmness as if she was consoling him in an unspoken way. 'What is it about you, Piggles?' He thought.

They soon reached the end of the escalator at the mixing room on the upper level. The room was huge and circular. It had large glass cylinder in the middle with the words 'SECRET INGREDIENT' written on the LED panel above. It was surrounded by smaller cylinders in a circle. There were pipes running from the central one to the others. Each of the small cylinders had a faucet at the bottom. People were busy filling their cups with the free samples. The speakers sprang alive again.

"This, ladies and gentlemen, is where the magic ingredients are mixed together to give you the unique taste of Virility."

Kat led them ahead towards the door marked 'Keep Out' and explained, "The Succubus is hidden deep inside the factory but there is no physical way to reach it from our world. Only from Limbo. There's a rift inside."

She opened the door and gave a nod, asking them to follow. As they entered, they could hear the last few words of the sound clip echoing through the closing door.

"Rest assured that it has been deemed both safe and beneficial by our trustworthy and ethical scientists. Virility truly is a national treasure!"

Kat had led them into what looked the manufacturing unit of the factory. The place was huge with large pipes carrying the soft drink running across the whole area. The pipes were transparent and the soft drink running through them made the surroundings glow in a dull green shade. There were wires laying on floor, sparking as some of the liquid dripped on them. They walked swiftly through the maze of pipes, avoiding the workers and down a staircase.

"This way!" Kat said as she turned right.

It was a dark corridor with an huge opening at the far end. They walked briskly and entered what looked like a warehouse. It was lined with wooden crates, all stacked on one another. The only source of natural light was these glass paneled windows near the ceiling. They all stared upward trying to gauge the size of the place. It was enormous.

Kat said, "This is where they store the merchandise ready for export." She frowned a little and muttered, "It's funny..."

The two nephilims looked at her but it was Dante who asked, "What is?"

"I expected it to be bigger, a lot bigger...But then, I was just a child when I was here and I was in Limbo."

"Bigger than this?" Rayven asked and got a simple nod from Kat in return.

"What were you doing here?" Dante asked curiously.

"Escaping my nightmares." Kat replied softly.

Both were taken aback by her answer. Limbo was where you get trapped not come here to find peace. Dante stared at her in mock wonder and finally asked, "You came to Limbo to escape your nightmares."

"Yes." Kat replied and started to walk ahead towards the clearing in the center.

Rayven turned to look at Dante in shock, not believing Kat. He just shook his head in bewilderment and mouthed 'What the fuck!' They turned their attention to her and started to follow. Kat suddenly stopped and said, "Okay! It's here."

She took out her stencil and sprayed the contents of the can, transferring the design on the floor. Rayven was intrigued by Kat's knowledge but was confused about the can and couldn't resist asking, "What's in the can?"

But before Kat could reply, Dante interrupted and looking at Rayven said, "Trust me, you don't wanna know."

Kat dropped her head and slowly said, "It's the spell."

Rayven frowned and asked, "In a can?"

"Well, spells can take hours if not days to prepare. So why not can it for instant use later?"

Dante laughed and quipped, "And they do it with cheese... "

Rayven just ignored him and leaned next to the glowing design of the gateway, while observing it asked, "So, where'd you learn this stuff?"

"Vergil taught me the basics of demonology and occultism. Then thought I had a natural talent for it. Said it would help focus on something constructive, instead of..." She stopped mid-way through her sentence suddenly.

Rayven stood up, looked at her and asked, "Instead of what?"

"Instead of focusing on the nightmares." Kat shook her head and changed the subject. She pointed to the gateway said, "Go ahead!"

Dante walked up to the gateway. He held out his right hand to Rayven and raised his eyebrows. He was giving her a playful grin the whole time. She just shook her head, walked closer and stood facing him on the other side of the gateway. She gave him a small grin and placed her hand in his, as they stepped on the gateway together.

Dante turned sideways to look at Kat and said," Meet you on the other side." Rayven turned as well and gave her a nod.

Soon they were engulfed by the spell and everything started to change. The crates around them started to shake, the ground trembled and portions of it cracked. The portion that they stood on suddenly dropped downwards while the walls of crates around them sprung upwards. Suddenly the crates started to snap out in all directions and levitated. There were huge sections of the warehouse levitating mid-air. And an ominous silence filled the air. It was as if the warehouse expanded ten-fold.

"Whoa! It really is huge in here." Rayven said while looking upwards. Dante was doing the same and he spotted Kat high above on another section.

"Kat! You're right. It's a lot bigger here in Limbo. What next?" he yelled.

"Head back to the mixing room! I'll meet you there." She said walking away.

Dante looked back at Rayven and said, "Looks like we are going rock climbing."

Rayven just sighed, thought 'Not again.' and walked towards the section closest to them. Each section had either the words 'Obesity', 'Stupidity' or 'Virility' written on it. They slowly climbed up each section, grumbling as they progressed upward. They stopped one section below the last to catch their breath. Both were leaning with their hands to their knees. Rayven stood up and with her hand on Dante's shoulder said, "C'mon! We've got a succubus to kill."

Dante grunted as he stood up and said, "This is so not how I planned to spend alone time with you."

Rayven gave out a small laugh and asked, "Really?! How did you plan it then?"

Dante just smirked and walking closer to her said, "Well, let's just say that you wouldn't have been able to catch a breath and it would have been very tiring. But….you would love it. Trust me."

Rayven smirked back at him, pretended to think and said, "Can't catch my breath and tiring, hmm...You mean like right now?" She then turned to climb up the platform and teased him, "Looks like you got your wish."

Dante couldn't believe it, her reply. He just cursed under his breath and started climbing up behind her.

They soon reached the top and started to make their way back to the mixing room. The environment of the factory in Limbo was completely different. The pipes in the corridor heaved up and down as if they were breathing. The serene green of the pipes in the real world was replaced by a deep muddy green in Limbo. The creepy environment of Limbo was in complete contrast to the real world.

They finally made it to the mixing room. The sight that greeted them on entering was beyond belief. The large cylinder in the center was replaced by a giant breathing life-form with ugly tentacle-like veins going to the smaller ones. The smaller ones were even more hideous if possible. They were ugly looking creatures with the tentacles from the middle cylinder entering their mouths. Their middle was where the supposed best drink of the world came from.

"Yuck!" said Rayven. She squirmed and twisted her mouth as she looked upward.

Dante did the same and said, "What in the shitting hell is going on here?"

Rayven looked at him and pointing to the cylinders said, "That can't be sanitary."

"There you guys are!"

They turned around on hearing Kat's voice. She was standing near another exit. She waved them to come over as she opened the door and entered. They followed her and came into another chamber. It had a large circular tunnel in the center. They walked over and looked down in the tunnel. It was a long drop down. A huge fan spun slowly at the bottom. A strange orange glow penetrated through its blades.

"This tunnel will lead you guys to the Succubus." Kat said.

"How do we get down there?" Dante asked.

"You can only get there from Limbo. I can't follow."  
Kat took out an object from her pocket and twisted it, drawing Rayven's attention.

"What is that? An egg-timer?" She asked.

Kat started to explain, "It's a vial containing a spell I made from a variety of..."

"I don't need to know." Dante stopped her and Rayven just gave her a shrug and mouthed 'Sorry'.

Kat nodded and simply said, "You jump, I twist."

"Are you serious?" Rayven asked, looking down the tunnel. 'It's a long way down!' She thought.

"Trust me." Kat assured.

"Okay."

"Good luck." Kat said as they jumped into the tunnel.

As Rayven and Dante did a free fall down the tunnel, Kat spun the device in her hand and the tunnel suddenly turned at an angle. Their feet landed on the walls and they started to surf along it.

"This is awesome!" screamed Rayven; the gush of wind was blowing her hair around. Dante looked sideways at her, she was smiling. Her face couldn't control her excitement. Just like it did when she was younger.

At the top, Kat twisted the device again and the tunnel turned again. This time the walls were flat below their feet and they started to run ahead. Rayven looked at Dante running next to her. He grinned as he nodded towards the far end. And in silent agreement, they started to race against each other.

"Guys! You don't have long. Hurry!" Kat reminded them.

They came close to the end. They were to enter through a side door. They reached it and suddenly heard a buzzer ring.

"Whoa! That was an egg-timer!" Dante exclaimed as he opened the door and pulled Rayven in along with him.

As they got inside, they noticed a terrible smell in the air. Their noses flinched on their own. Their eyes were searching the source of the foul odor.

"Ugh. What a stink!" Dante cringed.

"I know. It's like something died in here." Rayven agreed with her hand over her nose.

They walked forward and came into a side corridor with a door at the far end. They followed the corridor and walked through the door. On entering it they came into a large underground cavern.

The cavern appeared to be scattered with remnants of an altar or a an ancient temple. It looked like it suffered long term wear and tear. Many free standing columns all around the place. In the centre the place was completely void which was filled with a weird orange colored liquid. Strange gargling and grunting sounds echoed through the place.

"What is that awful sound?" Rayven asked, looking at Dante.

"Beats me!"

They walked ahead and as they came close to the center they saw the source of the sounds. The Succubus. It was an ugly, deformed, worm-like creature. It had four arms, each ending in huge claws with long and sharp nails. Hanging upside down, connected to a large tentacle at the top, it wriggled freely in mid-air as it made the sickening noises.

Rayven looked completely disgusted with the sight. 'That thing is the key ingredient!' She shuddered at what the humans could be drinking. She turned sideways to look at Dante and said, "Can you believe this shit?"

He just pursed his lips and gave out a long sigh thinking. 'I used to drink this shit.' He looked back at her and gave a nod in the direction of the Succubus. Their swords materialized immediately.

As they came close to it, he yelled, "So, you must be the secret ingredient."

Slowly the front two arms moved and lifted the flab of skin to reveal an equally repulsive looking face. Its head had a horn-like feature, eyes large and beady. It had another four smaller arms near its neck. Its mouth was lined with sharp, pointy teeth. It gurgled and asked, "Who are you?"

Dante quipped, " I'm your prom-date, you ugly sack of shit."

"Wow. She is really cute." Rayven mocked him.

The Succubus spotted her and flung itself at the edge, in front of them. It shivered and gurgled, "WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU!" As it screamed, it vomited a vile smelling liquid directed at Rayven. She jumped sideways to avoid getting splashed by it.

"You missed." Rayven said and turning to Dante, teased him, "I think she's jealous!"

He looked at her and gave her a sly smile. Turning his attention to the Succubus he said, "My name by the way, is Dante."

"Dante? Son of Sparda...and Eva...the whore!" It gurgled as it spoke, realizing who they were. It wriggled again and said, "Then you must be...Rayven...the freak abomination!"

"And you are just a pocketful of sunshine." Rayven quipped.

"How about you call her - Rayven and me - Dante, the demon killer. Demon killer….. Has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" Dante challenged the creature.

The Succubus gurgled again and growled, "You want to kill me? You can't kill me. I'm twelve hundred years old."

"You don't look a day over twelve thousand." Dante mocked it.

"Never thought you'd be into older women." Rayven joked and Dante just shrugged.

"Fuck you!" It screamed.

"Fuck you!" Dante yelled back.

"FUCK YOU!" It screamed once more and spat the vomit at them again. They barely dodged it this time. Rayven lost her cool and yelled, "That's it! Let's take this bitch down!"

Dante ran at it with his sword swung sideways and gave a strong hit. Rayven did the same on the other side. The Succubus grunted in pain but very little damage was caused by them. It laughed evilly and raised its large arms, slamming them on the ground. It laughed again as it mocked them.

"You're going to die, and them I'm going to eat your tiny bodies."

The smack was so hard that Dante and Rayven were flung into the air and they fell back to the ground. They both got up and as if on cue, attacked its arms. That seemed to do the trick. The Succubus screamed again in severe pain. And smacked its arm at Dante, who was closer. He leaped at the strike to avoid it but the arm dropped on the ground and shook the structure. That caused Dante to lose his footing and fall to the floor.

"I'm going to tear your arms and legs, chew them up and puke them all over your pathetic face."

Dante rolled away at the incoming claw, quickly got up and started to strike its arms again. The Succubus's head turned to look at him. He jumped up and kicked it right in the face. Rayven's eyes followed the Succubus as it flung backwards in pain. But it soon regained composure and jumped up on the edge again. This time however, it punched the ground really hard causing Rayven to slip and fall off the edge.

"Piggles!" Dante yelled as he saw her fall. However, she caught hold of the edge and pulled herself up.

"Dante! Your date is a royal pain in the ass." She said as she stood up.

Dante grinned and bringing his attention back to the Succubus, swung his sword fiercely at its arm. Rayven soon followed suit and the Succubus screamed in agony.

"You disgusting fuck child! I'm going to pull your neck off, piss down your neck and shit on your worthless carcass."

Rayven sarcastically commented," Boy, does she have a mouth!"

"Well, I do like them dirty." Dante said, smirking the whole time.

Dante and Rayven ran ahead and attacked it simultaneously. They swung their swords in every possible angle, trying to cause maximum damage. The Succubus squealed and screamed in pain. It punched at the ground between them. The impact flung them on either sides. They swiftly got up and saw that it was weakened. It lay on the edge with its head covered by the smaller arms.

Dante got up and pointed at the larger arms. Rayven just nodded in the affirmative. They got to it and taking an arm each, pulled it with great force and effectively separated it from the tentacle. The Succubus lost balance and tried to catch a hold of the edge but Dante reached up and kicked it in its face. It went flying backwards and fell down into the rotten orange liquid, screaming the whole way down.

"You're dumped!" Dante quipped.

Rayven shook her head and said, "About time!"

They turned around to return the same way they entered. As they walked ahead, another slow spinning fan become visible. The orange liquid was slowly flowing towards it. They stopped for a bit to catch a breath. However, it had been only a few seconds before the ground below them rumbled and the Succubus broke through. It was severely pissed and fuming with rage.

"I told you...YOU CAN'T KILL ME!" It growled.

It lifted its arms and punched through the ground, breaking it. Rayven and Dante jumped up and flipped backwards to land on the solid ground. It flung itself ahead and before it could regain its balance, almost at same time, they both punched at its head. It fell backwards but clung onto a column and squealed, "Why won't you just die?"

"Where's the fun in that?" Dante yelled back at it.

He kicked at its arm holding the column, making it lose its hold. It fell backwards and got carried to the fan along with the flow of the liquid. Soon they heard its screams of agony and pain, as it got caught in the fan and was crushed to death.

Rayven walked up to him and looked at the remains of the Succubus near the fan. "She was, umm….clingy." Dante said. She turned to look at him, smiled and asked, "So, how are we planning on getting outta here?"


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 17

Slowly the darkness of night descended on the city. The street lights illuminated the otherwise dark and dull environment. The citizens were returning to their homes after a hard day's work. The office buildings were empty and plunged in darkness. But even then the lights in the top office of Silver Sacks Tower, which was occupied by Mundus, were still lit.

Inside, the office was filled with grunts and moans of a couple engaged in deep levels of intimacy. Their movements were rough, crude and raucous. The office desk made loud creaking, rhythmic noises as it moved along with them and computer thumped in synchronization. The pair was so engrossed in their activity that they failed to notice the papers, files and various stationeries falling to the floor.

Suddenly the phone rang and without stopping his movements, Mundus picked up the phone and growled into the receiver.

"This had better be good."

His eyes narrowed and his mouth curled in an evil fashion. He growled again as he stopped, threw the receiver on the opposite wall and moved away. He stood near the window, buckled himself up and closed his eyes.

Lilith who was left panting and unsatisfied knew something must have been wrong. She got up and straightened herself, then moved closer and asked, "What is the matter, darling?" He didn't reply, he just growled. She knew that she should leave him alone. But they were sort of together. It wouldn't hurt for him to share his worries. But she knew that it was asking for too much. She simply sighed.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. Mundus yelled harshly, "Get inside!" His voiced boomed through the vast space.

Lilith's attention turned towards the door. It opened and in walked Duncan with the same expression as Mundus. His eyes were seething with anger and his spectacles flinched as his nose flared. She knew that something was severely wrong.

"My Succubus." Mundus said, slowly opening his eyes, his attention outside to the city below.

Lilith couldn't believe it. After everything she did for him and supported him in, he still spoke about the damned Succubus.

"My Succubus is dead!" He growled angrily. He quickly turned and yelled at Duncan. "How the fuck did that happen?"

Lilith was taken aback in fear but on the inside she felt secretly happy. That bitch was dead. He was finally hers and hers alone. Duncan however remained unperturbed. He took in a deep breath, pulled out a flash drive from his jacket and with a gruff voice said, "You are in for a huge surprise."

Mundus raised his eyebrows, flared his nose and pursed his lips. He curled his fingers inwards, turning his hands into a fist. That simple action made Lilith realize that he was incredibly furious.

Duncan moved towards the computer and plugged in the flash drive. He turned the monitor towards Mundus and clicked the mouse. Soon the monitor flickered and started to play the video. The video showed a bird's eye view of Dante fighting the demons and killing them one by one, effortlessly. Mundus grunted. He was displeased at what he saw. Suddenly the focus shifted and Rayven came into view.

Mundus moved closer to the desk and stared ahead. She looked to be exhausted but her physical appearance was not lost to him. He thought, ' She looks just like her mother.' His eyes gleamed. 'I want you.' She was looking straight at the camera and smiled. Her voice suddenly echoed through the room.

"Thank you for tuning in." She gave a flying kiss and said, "Until next time!"

Suddenly the screen shook, then scrambled and finally went blank. A rage built inside him. A rage he couldn't control. He growled angrily, lunged ahead to lift the monitor and threw it out the window.

* * *

"The police have released footage of the terrorist responsible for the recent attack at Saint Agares's Church."

It was the late night news update. It showed the events of this morning. The destroyed church was the focus of the news cast. Suddenly a clip showing Dante started to play.

"He goes by the name of Dante."

Dante was taken aback on hearing his name and he simply huffed.

He and Rayven had to climb up the rung ladder of the long tunnel at the factory, meet up with Kat and walk their way back to the car, avoiding the cops and cameras along the way. After a long drive they finally returned back to the Order.

Vergil had immediately called them into his office - the Octagon. He had the TV screen switched on and his eyes were concentrated at the news. He stood with his hands behind his back. Realizing that he had company, he waved at them to come ahead without taking his eyes off the monitor. The screen had paused on Dante's face as they stared at the screen.

The anchor spoke, "Remember this face, people. If you see him, inform the police immediately but do not approach."

"He has a history of physical violence and is a known sexual deviant."

Rayven raised her eyebrows in shock. They were portraying him to be some sort of sadist.

Vergil switched off the screen and turned around to look at the three. He looked at Dante and said, "That news clip has been playing all day. Mundus is onto you and will do anything to get to you."

Dante sighed and asked, "I know. But why is my picture splashed across the TV. I mean, Rayven was there too. What about her?"

"He wants you dead. This is why he is getting everyone riled up. It doesn't matter to him if they find you. He will be more then pleased." Vergil replied with conviction. He slowly turned his attention to Rayven and said, "But Rayven - he wants her alive. He wouldn't want anything happening to her."

Rayven looked at him blankly. She was being chased again just like before. But this time, it was calculated and deliberate. She was tired of running. 'When will they leave us alone?' She thought sadly.

Vergil continued on, "Through you, they can get to her. We have to be cautious. I believe it would be wise to lay low for a bit."

"I thought you said we need to get Mundus ticked off. What better way than striking him again - immediately?" Dante challenged him.

Vergil shook his head and replied, "We need to know the extent of what he knows. We can't go ahead and get blindsided. We have too much to lose. I'll have another surveillance team out patrolling. Once the uproar settles down, we shall be in the clear to move forward."

"So your saying, for now, we need to wait." Rayven asked and got a nod in return.

* * *

It was well past midnight as Vergil sat at his computer going through the various news websites. He typed on the newly replaced keyboard. The broken remains of the previous one lay in the dustbin to his right. His eyes moved along with every key that he punched. Each website was swarming with news of the attacks. The picture of Dante was splattered on all of them. 'They are no longer a secret.' He thought.

"It must be so weird!"

He was startled at the sound. He was so engrossed in his work that he failed to notice that someone else was standing next to him. He turned to his left and saw Rayven standing with her arms crossed, staring at the screen. She looked back at him, pointed to the screen and said, "Seeing your own face like that."

Vergil smiled and swiveled his chair to face her. "It can be unnerving at times. But then I remember it's not me."

Rayven smiled back and looked around her eyes searching. "Where is Kat?" She asked.

"Out patrolling."

Raven's eyes grew wide in surprise and remarked, "Wow! She has some energy level. She doesn't seem to rest at all."

Vergil smiled and said, "She has been trained to go without it for long hours."

"I see. And where's Dante?"

Vergil stiffened, frowned and turned to face the computer screen. His facial expressions changed and he replied coldly, "Trying to persuade Henry to get him a pizza."

"Pizza? At this hour?" Rayven asked in surprise but got no response in return. His face was blank and attention towards the monitor.

She frowned at his sudden coldness. She realized that she said something wrong. But what was it? She had simply asked him about Dante, that's all. Dante is his brother. 'Why would he get upset about that?' She wondered. This was the second time he had behaved this way with her. Cold and harsh.

He had been sweet and caring towards her while at her house outside the city. But something changed afterwards. Whatever had happened had happened that night. And all of a sudden, everything became clear to her. He had seen her and Dante on the balcony. 'Was he jealous?' She thought as she remembered Vergil leaning in for a kiss. She felt embarrassed about her state of affairs and turned around to leave.

Vergil mentally hit himself for being so obviously jealous and disturbed. He was dealing very badly with this situation. He had tried to kiss her the other night but she had moved away. 'What does that tell you, Vergil?' He thought to himself. He had felt awkward and embarrassed at that time. And now his reaction to her mere mention of Dante was hard to miss. He was sure that by now she must have made the connection. He attempted to focus on work but he couldn't. She was standing next to him and affecting him in her own way. His senses left his control and his heart thumped faster on its own. She looked to be confused at his dry reply and had started to walk away without a word.

"Rayven." He called out after.

She stopped and turned around. She just kept looking at him, waiting for him to say something.

Vergil turned to look at her, still sitting on the chair and said, "Forgive me. I didn't mean to be rude." She simply stared back and didn't look to be convinced. So he continued on, "But it's Dante. He tends to dwell on the most unimportant things in life. He lacks focus."

She frowned and with a harsh tone asked, "So?"

"You seem offended. I didn't think it would matter to you."

"No it doesn't. But you acting odd towards me, does." She said sharply, stepping towards him. "You have something on your mind that's bothering you. Just tell me what it is and we can move on."

Vergil was surprised by how upfront she was. He fumbled on his words but finally said, "It's nothing important that concerns you."

"Doesn't concern me? Then why did you get upset and stop talking to me right now?" She asked angrily.

"I did not stop talking. I have a lot of issues to deal with. And I'm not upset."

"Look, Vergil. I am not Kat, to blindly agree with you and accept everything you say."

"Please don't bring her into this. It has nothing to do with her." He said angrily.

"Then what does? You talk to me nicely one minute and then later shut me out completely. I can't wrap my head around your mood swings. I thought you were my friend." She snapped at him and sadly continued, "But I'm beginning to rethink that fact."

Vergil was patiently listening to her rant. But her last statement really hurt him. He couldn't hold back anymore and so he snapped back, "You deserve better!"

"What?" Rayven was both, shocked and surprised.

"You grew up differently. Not like them. Your life has been different than theirs. They are a match for each other, not you! You are different. Unique. Can't you see that?" He said with anger but his tone still normal.

"What are you talking about?" Rayven asked. She was confused. 'Whose they?' She thought.

Vergil was about to reply when suddenly the door opened and their attention was drawn towards it. Dante walked in with a pizza box in his hands. He had dressed down, his hair was ruffled and his face had a huge victorious smile on it.

"See! I told you! You can get a pizza at any time." Dante said as he walked towards them.

He placed the box on the desk and looked at them. They were staring at him. Each had an angry expression on their face. He had clearly walked in while they were in the middle of an argument. Vergil's eyes were narrowed and nose slightly flared. While, Rayven's face looked flushed with rage and she looked stumped.

He straightened up and asked, "Am I interrupting something? You guys look really pissed." He turned to Rayven and joked. "Let me guess...a lover's spat?"

She looked disgustedly at him and as she walked away said, "Grow up, Dante!"

Dante was taken aback at her hostility. He turned to Vergil and asked," What the hell did you do to piss her off like that?"


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 18

Dante kept staring at Vergil, who simply stared back. He shrugged in indifference and returned to work on his computer. His expression had changed to blankness. He said nothing and simply started typing away at his keyboard.

Dante and Rayven had gone through a long and grueling day. He needed to blow off some steam. All Dante wanted to do, if not anything else was go get a pizza. But since he was currently the city's most wanted terrorist, he had to resort to convincing one of the volunteers to get him one. Henry had reluctantly agreed to his constant pestering. Henry got his piece of mind and Dante, his pizza.

He wanted to show Vergil his accomplishment when he walked in on him and Rayven arguing. He had overheard bits of it, more like a word or two as he walked in. But it had sounded serious.

"Are you going to tell me what that was about?" Dante asked with genuine concern.

"It was nothing." Vergil simply stated. His attention was still on the computer monitor.

"Like hell it was nothing." Dante said roughly.

He knew that Vergil was not going to give him an answer. He also knew that Rayven wasn't angry with him. She had just snapped back at him because she needed to take out her rage somewhere. Vergil had really pissed her off. And now she was probably sitting somewhere and crying. 'Great!' Dante thought. He picked up the pizza box and started to walk towards the back, leaving Vergil on his own.

Dante reached the room where Rayven was resting and hesitantly knocked on the door.

"What!" He heard her through the closed door.

"Are you okay in there?" He asked.

"Leave me alone, Dante."

"Listen, I'm sorry for being ass back there. I guess I shouldn't have said that." He pleaded.

"I don't care! Just, go away."

"I know you're upset, Piggles. But I got you something that'll cheer you up."

"GO AWAY!"

"C'mon! I got you pizza." Dante tried to bribe her. "I know how much you love it."

"I don't want it."

"Not even the one without olives?" He continued.

Dante stepped backwards and waited. He soon heard ruffling on the other side as the door knob turned. Dante smirked. He knew she wouldn't be able to resist it. He remembered how much she had loved it from back when they were younger. He waited as the door opened and a doe-eyed Rayven stood in front of him.

"No olives?"

"Not a single one." Dante assured her as he opened the box for her to see.

She softened, smiled and said, "Good. I still can't stand their taste."

Dante smirked. He had remembered that fact as well. Rayven's choice hadn't changed that much since she was a child. "So tell me, Piggles. Am I going to get a reward in return?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Rayven looked up at him and frowned slightly. "Is your mind always on one track? Can't it focus elsewhere for a change? Something more meaningful?"

"My mind was focusing elsewhere. And something meaningful too, my hunger." Stepping closer he said.

"You know, I was hoping you would share your pizza with me. But if you wanna repay me another way, I'm totally game for it." He continued mischievously as he leaned in closer, his eyes locked with hers.

Rayven just gave him a wide smile, knowing fully what he meant and said, "I know you would be. But, I'm okay with sharing."

"Cool. Now all you gotta do is follow me."

Rayven's head snapped backwards and she asked, "Follow you?"

Dante smiled as he stepped backwards and gave a nod sideways asking her to follow.

* * *

Vergil knew he had been out of line when he said all those things to Rayven. He had lost his cool and control. He couldn't believe that he had yelled at her. 'What's wrong with you?' He was reprimanding himself. He had never snapped at anyone this way. He had shown authority but never anger. He never wanted to be angry at her. She clearly meant a lot to him and now he had ruined whatever friendship they had. He hated himself for letting that happen. He had to make it up to her.

But how was he going to do that. She was angry and upset with him. That was for sure. And she probably didn't want anything to do with him. He had really messed up this time. He had tried really hard to concentrate on work but his mind kept returning to Rayven's upset face. His fingers were moving but he had no clue what he was typing.

He suddenly got up, picked his jacket and walked out the door into the main hall. All the volunteers were busy. He turned to look at a man talking on the phone and waited for him to finish. But he didn't have to wait for long. The man hung up and turned around in surprise.

"Vergil! I didn't see you there."

"Its fine, Henry. What is the status of the Virility factory?"

Henry relaxed. He had been surprised by his boss's sudden presence next to him. He thought that he had messed up. He picked up a few papers and showing them to Vergil said, "Just like we expected. These are the phone records of all the calls made from the Virility factory to Silver Sacks in the past twelve hours. Most of them are directly to Duncan Edwards. I tapped in on some conversations. They seem to be in the process of temporarily stopping supply. So, it's good news."

Vergil simply pursed his lips. He stared at the papers, going through each number one by one. He knew that they had made a significant impact. But their work was not finished yet. He looked up, handed the papers back and said, "I want you to keep a track of our surveillance team. I am going out for a bit."

Henry was surprised and he asked, "Are you sure it's a good idea?"

Vergil didn't reply. He just walked out. He had to get out of here. His thoughts were too jumbled and his mind was confused. He had to get his self together.

* * *

"Where are we going, Dante?" Rayven cried as she walked behind him.

"Just trust me will you."

"That's just it. I don't."

"Are you sure about that?" Dante asked, turning around to look at her.

She just sighed and replied while rolling her eyes, "Let's just get there."

Dante had led her through the back rooms, up the staircase, through the large corridor and store rooms. And now they were climbing these steps again. 'All this for a pizza!' Rayven thought as she continued to follow him.

When she heard him through the closed door, she had been in a bad mood. And all she had wanted was for him to just leave. But then Dante had found her one big weakness - pizza. That to one without olives. Her anger had dissipated and her craving for the pizza surfaced. She had never shared her's with anyone but it was Dante. He was being nice to her, so she relented. But now after walking behind him for so long, she felt like changing her mind. Just to spite him.

They made it to the top of the warehouse. It was nothing much. Just an old attic-like room with paint tearing off the walls. The air was damp and musky. One part of the sloping sides of the roof had fallen and the night sky with the twinkling stars was visible. Other than that the room was filled with broken furniture and old boxes. Dante led her towards the area which was open to sky. He turned around and saw Rayven staring upwards towards the sky in wonder.

"What does this remind you of?" He asked her.

Rayven dropped her eyes downwards into his and smiled. She couldn't believe he still remembered.

Years ago, when they were on the streets, they didn't have much. They use to stroll along the side walk, gaping at the stores, at all the things they had never seen and most that they couldn't get. One such place was the pizza parlor. They had seen a family celebrating a girl's birthday. She looked to be Rayven's age and Rayven's eyes had grown wide at the happy event unfolding across the glass window.

Dante had seen the look on her face. She looked happy. She had never known when her birthday was, so it had never been celebrated before. The very next day Dante had got her a pizza. He used up all the money he had saved till then and this is how they had celebrated her first birthday. Pizza and the star lit night, out in the open.

"I can't believe it. You still remember."

"Well, it was your first birthday party ever." Dante said smiling.

"C'mon. I'm sure the pizza's cold by now." He continued as he sat down and leaned against one of the box laying in the middle. He opened the pizza box, picked up a slice and offered it to her. Rayven smiled back, sat down next to him and took the piece.

They sat eating silently. Not uttering a word to each other. The wide open sky ahead of them with the stars twinkling and shining bright. The soft wind keeping the otherwise warm atmosphere, cool. They sat next to each other, leaning on the box and legs straightened but crossed at the ankles. Their shoulders touching and brushing against one another ever so slightly. And even after they were finished eating, they simply sat looking outside.

Rayven turned sideways to look at him. Dante had his eyes closed. He seemed so calm on the outside. But she knew that he was as turbulent on the inside. She remembered his expression from back at the factory. He had seemed disturbed. Kat hadn't seen it but Rayven knew. She felt that same disturbance inside her. They had been through the same experiences when they were younger.

Ever since she was little, she knew she had a different sense of things. She could see the demons...the monsters. They invaded her dreams and turned them into nightmares. She used to wake up at night screaming. But nobody believed her. They kept her on medication and heavy drugs. None of them had worked. They had called her insane and mentally unfit. But it all changed when she had met Dante. He believed her.

"Dante! Can I ask you something?" she asked softly.

"Sure, Piggles. Anything?"

"How did you know you weren't crazy?"

Dante opened his eyes and turned to look at her. She was looking at him with a small frown. Her eyes gleamed in the soft light of the night. "When the people you're supposed to trust most, turn out to be demon scum. Your eyes do open up to evil everywhere." He said, as a matter of fact.

Rayven's eyes grew wide. She knew the feeling. She shook her head and asked with genuine worry, "And how did you survive? I mean, out there...with all those monsters."

Dante sighed and slowly replied, "I took a stand and I fought back. I killed. No matter the consequences. I chose my path and I lived by it."

"But all that violence and death... Didn't that make you feel...less than human?" Rayven asked slowly, voicing her own feelings and worries.

"That's why you have search deep, Piggles. Deep in your heart. To make sure you're sane." Dante answered. His eyes were locked with hers.

"That's how I knew." He added.

Rayven took his hand in hers and said, "I'm sorry you had to go through that alone." She then rested her head against his shoulders. She kept her other hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat and said, "And, thank you."

Dante put his hand on hers and frowned as he asked, "For what?"

Rayven lifted her head and facing him said, "For rescuing me back then. You're the reason my life changed."

Dante looked at her in surprise. He always felt that she had saved him. Made him feel like he belonged somewhere. She had been the only one he trusted. She was his family.

He just smiled softly as he gripped her hand tightly. And lifting his hand away from her hand on his chest, he brought it to the side of her face. He slowly leaned in as he pulled her in for a soft lingering kiss.

* * *

In another part of the town, somewhere on the slightly wet road, a black hatchback raced across. As it came to halt at the signal, the window slid down and a confused and flustered looking Vergil came into view. He gripped the steering wheel tightly with his gloved hands as he waited for the signal to turn green. His lips were pursed tightly and his chest was heaving as he took in sharp breaths.

He had been driving aimlessly for the past hour but knew that he couldn't run away for long. He had needed to get out of the Order, away from it all. But most of all, away from Rayven.

She probably hated him, despised him even. That wasn't what he wanted. He knew in his heart that he needed to apologize. Explain his situation and if possible, she would understand. 'Please don't think less of me Rayven' He thought.

Vergil narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath. He had made up his mind. He had to act swiftly. He didn't want waste anymore time. He shifted the gear, pressed on the accelerator and sped ahead just as soon as the signal turned green.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 19

"Hello!"

"Are you there?"

"Yes, we're parked on the opposite street."

"Good. Now listen carefully. You have to be vigilant and discreet. But most importantly make sure to stay out of any confrontation."

"Okay."

"Keep a close watch though. We need to know what their next move is."

"Umm..Hmm."

"They know about us and now about Dante too. We can't afford a slip up. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

"I need information on every individual that enters or leaves. Even on those that talk to the security guards. We need to know everything. I hope I've made myself clear."

"Yes, Vergil." Henry said.

"Good luck."

And he heard the line click on the other end as Vergil hung up. He looked to his colleague in the driver's seat and gave him wry smile. "Tell me something, Marvin. Is he always like this?"

The man simply shook his head and grinned. He brought the binoculars to his eyes and turned his attention to the building ahead.

"You haven't seen anything yet." Marvin replied, with his concentration still ahead. Henry waited for him to say something more but the man was focused on the building in front of them. He gave out a low sigh and looked forward too.

As a child, he had been brought up to believe that whatever the government did was best for the people it ruled. Never once did they wonder why or how. But as he grew older, questions started to arise in his mind. If the government wanted what was best for them then why did they make it tough for everyone to survive. Why were so many people homeless and starving? Why did buying any basic commodity feel like breaking the bank? He had protested against them even though it was hard. And for that, he landed himself in prison several times.

It was during this period that he heard about the Order. And as it turned out, they had heard of him too. He was bailed out by one of the volunteers and introduced to Vergil, who initiated him to the cause. It was here that he had learned the harsh truth. They were being controlled by demons not just metaphorically but literally. And he like the rest of the human population, was simply fodder. His insides had curled on hearing what the demons did to them, how they controlled them and used them. It sickened him to the core and his resolve to change the system became stronger.

Initially, he was given odd jobs like scouring the newspapers and internet for locations and activities of the well positioned demons, all the while being trained to defend himself from attack. Slowly, on proving his dedication he was given greater responsibilities. And now even though he had spent over six months at the Order, there were many things about it that he never understood. Like, why did Vergil suggest they always remain hidden? How were they suppose to spread awareness in the public? Remind them that the Order was on their side not against as deemed by the media. And why did he always have to be obsessive about everything? Why had they spent all this time searching for Dante and Rayven? Clearly Vergil was hiding something. The man was a mystery.

He bought himself out of that thought and focused ahead at the building entrance. The Silver Sacks Tower was built to represent strength, power and control. 'It sure as hell looks scary.' He thought as he picked up his camera, bringing it to his eye and twisted the lens to zoom into focus. He gave a small laugh as he saw one of the pot bellied guards try to pull up his slipping pants. He knew very well that this was just their cover. The actual security was taken care of by the demons well hidden in Limbo. Limbo, a world he wasn't sure what looked like. But he had heard enough about it from Kat and from that he knew it was brutal. As long as he and Marvin remained out of sight and away from the CCTV cameras, they were safe.

* * *

Mundus sat in his office staring at the computer monitor playing the clip Duncan had brought with him. He replayed the clip over and over again. He was furious at the rebellion shown by what he thought was an insignificant nephillim, Dante. Mundus knew that he was a threat, a threat he wanted removed more than anything else. And what made it worse was that the nephillim was accompanied by the other thing he needed most, Rayven. And to top it off, they had somehow managed to kill his Succubus.

The video stopped and he leaned towards the desk and clicked on the mouse to play the video again. The tech staff had been summoned and they replaced the monitor immediately without asking any questions. Mundus stared at the video again, analyzing it and trying to find any signs of weakness in the two. They had fought their way through his horde of demons successfully. He knew that he needed to find a different approach. Force wasn't going to help. He turned his attention to Duncan, who sat on the opposite side speaking into his phone. He was yelling at whoever was on the other end.

"I don't care! I want to see you in my office in thirty minutes." Duncan screamed into the phone and hung up.

"I hope you know how to fix things at the factory." Mundus said to him in a slow menacing voice.

Duncan sighed, bringing his rage down and said, "It might take a while. And it's not as easy as it sounds."

Mundus gave out a sarcastic laugh as he got up from his seat, leaning in forward with his hands on the table and said, "Not as easy as it sounds...NOT AS EASY AS IT SOUNDS!". He raised his voice and it boomed through the entire room.

"The Succubus is dead! To continue production, we need another one. How the fuck do you propose we find one? Do you think I have a spare one lying around in my closet?" he continued in anger.

"I know it's tough but what other choice do we have. We have to start producing soon. Or else all we have done so far will go in vain. We will end up losing control." Duncan tried to reason with him.

Mundus straightened himself and looked back at the monitor. His mind was working swiftly, trying to think of a way ahead. He looked back at Duncan and in a deep voice said, "What we need to do is to kill them."

"How do propose we do that? None of our demons seem to be effective. Plus they seem to be working with the terrorists." Duncan asked in all sincerity.

"Together they are twice as much to handle. We need to separate the two."

"How? The Order has their back. They will do anything to keep them in the clear."

"The Order." Mundus huffed. "It has become a pain in my ass. Something must be done." He sat back into his chair and closed his eyes, thinking.

Duncan eased in his chair and leaned back. He was worried that he would see Mundus's dark side rise. He never thought that the factory would be targeted. Their cover had been perfect. What better way than this to spread the mind controlling drug. Everyone in the world likes soft drinks. Everyone in the world drinks it. No one would suspect it was tainted.

They ran it like any other factory would run. Even invited visitors in for tours so that no suspicion arose. It was a smooth running system. And security was not the problem because every part of the factory which was open for tour had guards posted on every end. They had made sure that the place was always busy. At least the part they wanted to show. And no one would know what goes on in the depths of the factory. That part was in Limbo and inaccessible to the general population. But now someone had found a way. And Mundus was not pleased.

Duncan pushed his glasses up using his forefinger and waited for his boss to speak.

"We need to find out the Order's location." Mundus said slowly, his eyes still shut.

"Trust me. We have been trying really hard. But they keep their tracks pretty clean. None of them have been caught till date. And our best tech team has not been able to locate the IP address from where the videos are being uploaded either." Duncan explained.

Mundus smiled evilly, opened his eyes and said, "But now we know something for sure. If they attacked the Virility factory, then we know where they will strike next."

Duncan nodded and smiled back as he realized what Mundus meant. He picked up his phone and dialed.

* * *

Across the street from Silver Sacks Tower, Henry and Marvin sat in the car and continued to spy on the entrance. After the shutdown of the Virility factory, each was expecting some dramatic event underway at the tower. However, all they got in return was one snoring guard in the front and the other busy on his phone. The building seemed to be quiet and still. However, Henry knew in his heart that on the inside, in the top offices, an evil scheme must be underway.

They had been keeping watch for the past four hours. It was almost daylight and they knew that as soon as the sun would rise, their current position could be noticeable. They had to re-evaluate their position before returning to their watch. 'We can hold up for a bit.' thought Henry as he gave out a small yawn.

Marvin looked back at him and said, "Looks like the night got the best of you."

"Not exactly. It's this uneasy calm that's getting to me. That's what's boring. I just want them to do something. It's just too quiet." Henry complained.

"I know. That's never happened before. Every time we have made a move, they have always retaliated." Marvin looked out the window on his side, a frown appeared on his forehead as he said slowly, "But I think this time, they're planning something big. I can just feel it."

Henry just nodded and asked, "Do you think they have figured out where we are? The Order."

"So far we have been way to careful for them to figure it out." he replied as he turned to look at Henry. The frown had still not left his forehead. "But considering the recent turn of events. I'm not so sure."

"You mean because of the news?"

"Yeah. None of our faces have ever been splashed across the TV screens before. Even Vergil remains hidden under the mask." Marvin explained. "But I guess he can't say that anymore. Dante is his identical twin. Dante's face is his face too."

Henry was about to reply when his cell phone rang. He looked at the phone's screen and mouthed 'Speak of the devil.' And Marvin simply grinned.

"Yes, Vergil."

"What's the status?"

"Nothing. There is no movement. All we did so far is, stare at the guards." Henry replied with disappointment.

"What about the employees or the visitors? Any new activity?"

"That would be a negative on both accounts. It's like everything is at a standstill."

"That is not good news. No activity means no information for us and no way for us to know what to expect."

"So, what now? We could stay here for a while longer. Maybe things will change as the day breaks."

"It's possible. But I'd rather have you return and be here at the organization to supervise."

Henry was taken aback, "Okay. What's the emergency?"

"We are going to proceed with phase two."


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 20

Early in the morning, Kat was busy shuffling through the books in the large hall which also doubled as the library. Opening and slamming them shut as she went through them, not finding what she was looking for. "Not this." she muttered to herself as her fingers ran across the titles. Each rack was coded by her for ease of use but right now in her excitement, the very same coding system seemed to be a hindrance. She was looking for something, something that would help enhance her spells and make them stronger.

"There!" she said as she finally found the book. Removing it from its slot, she brought it to the table in the center and sitting on the nearby chair, started browsing through it.

She had returned a few hours back after handing the stakeout location over to Henry. She had wanted to stay longer but Vergil ordered otherwise. She agreed as she had complete faith in Vergil's decisions. And why shouldn't she? After all it was this very man who had saved her, helped her in giving her life a direction to follow, and appreciated her abilities. The very same ones that had scared her up until he showed her their true strengths. In her heart she had always known the truth but it had been through Vergil guidance that she could finally see it as real. She was no longer afraid.

After turning page after page, Kat finally found the one she needed. Her eyes gleamed with joy. 'This is perfect.' She thought as she jotted down the ingredients needed to alter the spell on the notepad to her right. She knew that Vergil would be very pleased with these modifications. Happy with her accomplishment, a small smile adorned her face.

"So you do know how to smile."

Kat looked up at the source of the statement and saw Dante staring at her with his eyebrow raised. She had been far too engrossed in her work to notice that there was someone else in the room with her. She got slightly flustered and not knowing what to say, she just smiled and returned back to her book.

Dante had just woken up and was looking around, hoping to find Rayven awake too. The events of the previous night were still engraved on his mind. He had tried hard to forget about his life growing up. It had been too dark and discomforting. He always lived in the moment. A trait he saw mirrored in Rayven. They had sat upstairs staring at the stars for long. A while later, she had fallen asleep and he had carried her back to her room. He had returned to his own afterwards. And now this morning, he was headed to wake her up when he heard the sound of books slamming. He had walked towards the sounds and found Kat staring into a book. And for the first time since they met, he saw a smile on her face.

"Wow, that's a big book!" He exclaimed looking at its size. Kat didn't give him any response. "What are you doing?" He asked as he pulled up a chair and sat next to her.

Kat continued her research and while she turned her page said, "I think I've found a way to enhance one of my spells. All I need is black cat oil, dried thyme and black poodle dog hair."

"Really? I didn't think that it was possible to make the spells any more gross than they already were." He said with his nose flinching in disgust.

Kat turned to look up at him with eyes wide open. She didn't understand why he was creeped out by it. It was an effective substitution. "I don't see the problem with this alteration and neither will Vergil." She defended.

Dante just smirked and leaned against the backrest and tilted the chair behind. This was the first time that he actually paid any attention towards her appearance. Kat seemed to be this sweet girl with bright grey eyes. If you would have met her otherwise, never once would you realize the pain that they held inside. Short, dark hair lined her face and she had this strange tattoo on her forehead. 'Probably some weird Wiccan thing.' Dante thought to himself. But he had to admit, she was really good with the occultism. And her psychic ability had proved extremely useful in battle. Vergil seemed to have helped her which is why she trusted him. She was loyal to him and Vergil trusted her likewise. He was really curious to know how their partnership began.

"Vergil...Hmm. You guys seem tight. How'd you meet?" Dante asked.

Kat stopped writing and looked up to ask, "Is it relevant?" 'Why does he care?' She thought. She didn't understand why he needed to know and clearly it seemed to be a fruitless conversation.

"I like to know who I'm risking life and limb with. He's my brother and is trying to save the world. As for Rayven, we sail in the same boat. What's your story?" He challenged her.

Kat continued to look back. She hardly knew this man. Sure, he was Vergil's brother but that hadn't made her trust him immediately. While spying on him for the past few weeks, she had seen the kind of man he was. Temperamental, anti-social, anguished and rebellious. She had seen the things he did. Some of them had shocked and disgusted her. It had been hard for her to believe that he was Vergil's identical twin. They both were worlds apart. But once he found out the truth about his existence, his past, he had started to show signs of being responsible. She knew that he was key in this operation and through the course of their time together; her trust in him had grown.

Dante saw that Kat didn't entirely believe in his sincerity. 'Who would?' He thought. But the fact was that she had helped save him and Rayven. First at the pier, then helped out at Rayven's apartment and then Virility. She didn't have to put herself in the line of fire but she did without hesitation. He felt indebted to her. So he tried to explain himself.

"Listen, I never asked for your help but you gave it anyway and I appreciate it. I trust you. You can trust me too."

Kat shook her head and attempted to return to her work but suddenly made up her mind. She looked at Dante and said, "He rescued me." She eased up as she continued. "I was in a foster home. My foster father was a demon. He attacked me most nights. I had to get out."

Dante frowned slightly as he understood and said apologetically, "The nightmares."

Kat realized his discomfort and softly said, "It's ok. I felt nothing. I couldn't physically escape so... I found another way."

Dante kept staring at her. A new sense of respect for her forming in his mind as she continued on in a blank voice, "He helped me deal with the demons, both figuratively and literally. I killed the bastard."

He was taken aback. He couldn't believe she had it in her and he didn't miss the harshness and venom in her voice as she said the last sentence.

"Now I want to deal with them all." She said with a firm resolve in her voice.

"You're gonna stick with us to the end, right?" She looked straight at him and asked in soft voice. Her look was almost pleading. And all Dante could respond was, "Count on it."

Rayven stood hidden with her back to the doorframe, overhearing their conversation. She had woken up and was surprised to find herself in her room. 'Dante must have brought me here.' She thought. She had freshened up and was headed to wake Dante when she heard his voice. She was about to walk in when she realized that he was deep in conversation with Kat. She paused and waited back, not wanting interrupt. She knew that it was rude to eavesdrop but Vergil's words from their fight last night echoed in her mind. 'Them.' She had to know for sure, so she waited and listened.

As she heard Kat describe her past, she slowly realized that she had clearly misjudged and misunderstood Kat. She was a fighter in true sense of the word. For a human being to endure so much pain and suffering that to at such a young age. And then to not just rise above it but to stand in opposition and fight back. It was truly remarkable and Rayven's admiration for Kat grew ten-fold. She really felt humble and insignificant in comparison. She also saw the similarity that Vergil mentioned. Dante and Kat had led lives far too similar to each others. Making her think about her own self.

She had a tough life as a child - yes but it had also changed for the better after she got adopted. Growing up in a family who loves you, cares for you was a starkly different from her time as an orphan. Her parents had spoiled her and even after their demise, Cuthbert had continued to do the same. She had all the comforts that life could give her. And here in front of her were a pair of individuals who had to fight for their simple right to live. 'How can life be so unfair?' She wondered. Her thoughts were interrupted as she sensed someone besides her. She turned sideways to find Vergil with his hands folded, staring ahead into the adjoining room.

"I suppose you finally see what I see." He stated.

She looked up at him and turned around to look into the room. Kat was explaining something about a protection spell to Dante. And he was pretending to listen to her attentively. Their interaction seemed so normal. 'Normal.' She felt a tinge of jealousy inside her. She had never felt this way before and disliked the feeling.

Rayven just gave out a soft sigh. She had understood perfectly what Vergil meant. She turned to look at him and said, "Things aren't always as they seem."

Vergil simply smiled and said, "No, they aren't." He brought his hands to his back and said, "I see you are well rested."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Rayven quickly replied.

"Considering how we left things yesterday, I thought..."

"You thought what?" She interrupted, irritated with him.

"I thought that...I'm sorry." Vergil said slowly, knowing fully that he had offended her last night.

Rayven shook her head. Her mind was elsewhere and she didn't want to start another pointless argument with him. So she simply said, "Just forget about it, Vergil."

Vergil nodded and his authoritative look returned. He narrowed his eyes and said, "Yes. We do have more pressing matters to deal with." He looked towards the door and saw Henry walk in. Rayven looked inwards as well. He stepped into the adjacent room and Rayven followed suit.

"Where's Marvin?" Vergil asked with a firm voice. All the eyes in the room turned to look at him. Kat stiffened in her seat in attention while Dante looked at Rayven and smiled but she was looking ahead at Henry.

Henry had just settled into the chair but as soon as he heard Vergil's stern voice he straightened and said, "He wanted to stay back. I knew you wouldn't agree but we figured that someone needed to stay back and keep watch. Besides I can supervise on my own. Marvin doesn't need to be here."

Vergil narrowed his eyes. He wasn't exactly pleased with the decision made without consulting him first. He had to know that he was in control. But they had to focus on the task ahead and he did need someone to watch the tower, so he just said, "I hope you stay in contact with him while we are out. I don't like any unexpected events or unwanted surprises."

Henry gave out a sigh of relief and relaxed. He gave Vergil a nod of agreement. Last thing he needed was his boss pissed off at him.

"Way to scare the newbie, Vergil." Dante teased.

Vergil ignored him and said, "Kat, we need to proceed with our plan. Get everyone ready."

Kat got up and proceeded to move towards the volunteer's workspace to collect her belongings. Dante didn't move, instead he simply continued to lounge causing Vergil to turn his attention towards him and say, "That means you too, Dante."

Dante smirked. He loved getting on people's nerves. He got up and slowly walked towards the back. He stopped suddenly midway, turned around and said, "Piggles are you comin'?"

Rayven looked sideways and gave him a blank look as she said, "Why don't you go ahead. I'll be a while."  
Dante was surprised by her sudden change in behavior towards him, but he feigned indifference, shrugged and returned on his way.

* * *

"Kat, I'll meet you all at the decided location. Keep away from the cameras. Be careful." Vergil spoke as they stood outside the building.

Dante stared at the two hatchbacks in the front and said, "So I'm guessing, you aren't coming with us?"

"No. I'll take the other car. It's safer this way. If something were to go wrong, at least one of us would be there to rescue the other." Vergil explained and walked towards the car at the back.

"Cool!" Dante exclaimed.

Kat was already waiting in the driver's seat. Dante reached towards the passenger door, pulled it open and waited for Rayven to follow. But he saw that she had already started walking behind Vergil. He got puzzled and his forehead turned into a deep frown. It was the second time since this morning that she had been distant and aloof with him. Dante watched her get into the passenger seat of the other car and he looked at the vehicle in confusion as Vergil drove away.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 21

Vergil drove the car rapidly through the soon to be busy streets. His eyes were fixed on the road but his mind was thinking about the task ahead. If Dante and Rayven were to succeed then it would be a strong disadvantage to Mundus. With the surveillance system down, it would leave Mundus blind and that would make it considerably easier for them to strike. Victory would be theirs and soon all his plans would come together. And involuntarily, a small smile adorned Vergil's face just thinking about the future prospects.

Through the side mirror, Rayven had seen Dante stare after them as their car drove by. Confusion was written all over his face. She closed her eyes and mentally kicked herself for behaving this way. She was acting immaturely and based on pure hearsay. She felt like an idiot and now Dante would definitely be upset. She knew that she would, if she were in his place. And of all the people to listen to she had listened to Vergil. The man was Dante's brother, was helping them and had the same bizarre effect on her but there was something about him that she couldn't put her finger on. Something was amiss. 'He's helping you and you're doubting him. Really?' At that thought she turned to look at Vergil and saw him smiling to himself.

"What are you so happy about?" she asked.

Vergil stiffened. He hadn't expected his face to show the emotion he was feeling. He looked at her just for a second and brought his attention back on the road. She looked confused. He took a deep breath and replied, "Nothing much. I'm just looking forward to the completion of our goal."

She eyed him with curiosity and mock wonder. "Looking forward? You're sending your brother and your friend into a demon's lair. How can you be looking forward to that?"

"That's not what I meant. And you know that." He quickly defended, giving her a quick look.

"Whatever." She just rolled her eyes and turned her head to look out the window. The speed with which they were travelling, all buildings outside seemed to blur together making a weird pattern.

"So...you still consider me to be your...friend?" He asked after a while, his words halting and his focus on the road ahead.

"Why? Don't you want me to?" Rayven asked. She was still busying looking at the buildings passing by.

Vergil winced his eyes at that thought and said, "I wasn't exactly very friendly the last time we spoke. I shouldn't have said all those things. I'm sorry."

Rayven shook her head and looking at him said, "Don't be. Just because you said all that, doesn't exactly make it true."

"Even then, I feel..."

"Please, Vergil. I thought we were over this. Let's just drop it and move on." She interrupted before he could finish his sentence and turned away, back to the window.

* * *

In the other car, Dante sat with one foot resting on the dash board, staring blankly at the passing sights. He had been surprised when she got in the other car with Vergil. She had been pretty angry at him the night before and had stormed out on them. But he had got her talking to him again. And today she was ignoring him and travelling with Vergil. Now, not really knowing what to make of Rayven's behavior since this morning, he had chosen to forget about it. Unfortunately, doing that had turned out to be harder than it seemed.

"Okay Vergil. We'll meet you there." Kat spoke into her phone diverting his attention towards her.

Initially he had assumed Kat to be this silly woman with an unbelievable trust on his brother, who was willing to do anything for Vergil, including putting up with a jerk like himself or get killed trying to help. But after his talk with her, he was beginning to see her in a different light. She was much stronger than she gave herself credit for. 'Well, she didn't exactly run away when you aimed two guns at her. What does that tell you?' He thought.

"What did Vergil say?" Dante asked.

Kat continued to look at the road ahead as she replied, "He was just checking our location. They've reached the spot and are waiting for us. We should be there in about fifteen minutes."

"Man! He runs a tight ship." Dante exclaimed. "How can you handle his OCD?"

"He doesn't have an OCD. He is doing it for our own good, you know. He is an excellent leader and plans well ahead of time. No harm in that now, is there?" Kat frowned slightly and defended with a short stern voice.

"Whoa! Looks like I struck a nerve. Sorry. Didn't know you guys had a thing." He apologized.

"Thing? What kind of 'thing' are you talking about?" Kat asked in confusion.

"The 'thing' that made you go all crazy defensive right now. That thing." Dante teased.

"There is no 'thing'. He is my boss." Kat replied.

"So you keep saying." He muttered.

Kat gave him a stern look and turned back to concentrate on her driving.

Soon they came to stop atop a bridge and saw Rayven and Vergil waiting for them. Rayven was leaning against the side of the car while Vergil was talking to someone on the phone. He hung up as soon as he realized that the other car had reached. Kat and Dante got out and started to walk over towards the other two. He observed the surroundings as he stepped close to them.

A small river stream which divided the city ran underneath the bridge. The reflection of the hazy skyline of the city appeared even murkier in the water below. The bridge itself was old and rusty in places. There were several others which were visible from where they stood. It vibrated as the heavier vehicles passed by. The sun had just about risen but the morning sun rays barely penetrated the smog filled sky. His concentration towards the surroundings was broken as soon as he heard Vergil's voice.

"Now that we have dealt with the Succubus, it must have caught Mundus' attention. It's time for us to land the second blow, disable his monitoring network." Vergil said as he turned to face the view from the bridge.

They all walked forward and came up to the side of the bridge. Paved sidewalks lined the river stream below. All of them leading to the next bridge ahead and beyond. Dante turned to look at Rayven, who was looking at the river below. He did the same and his eyes traced the sidewalk up to the tall, slender office building at the far end. It stood out from all the others because of its sleek design. He wondered who worked there. But soon Vergil cleared things up.

"That's the Raptor News Tower. Controlled by Mundus, they've the monopoly over the world's media: news, advertising, entertainment."

"Mind control." Dante spoke in the middle.

Vergil looked at him and smirked."Yeah. And surveillance. They spy on the populace through their network of satellites, routers and CCTV cameras."

Rayven sighed in contempt. 'No kidding.' She and Dante looked at each other. He smirked in response and looking back at the tower ahead said, "Yeah we all noticed that bit. So what's the plan?"

"Kat." Vergil called onto her to explain further.

She nodded in acknowledgement and said, "The Raptor News Network is run by a demon, Bob Barbas."

Rayven's eyes went wide. She knew something was twisted with that man but him, a demon. Really? That was a shocker. Dante had the same expression on his face. He looked at Vergil in shock and said, "Bob Barbas is a demon?"

"You know, I always thought that there was something weird about him." Rayven finally spoke.

"Tell me about it. Looks like he's more than just a fucking dick." Dante turned sideways towards Kat and pointing at the tower said, "..And he's in that tower?"

Rayven looked towards the building, then back at Kat and waited for her reply. But Kat just shook her head and said, "Not that tower."

"That one." She said pointing to the building's reflection in the water below.

Dante and Rayven looked at the reflection at the same time and then back to her. Each staring at her as if she was talking to them in a language neither understood.

"Huh?" "What?" They both spoke simultaneously.

"In Limbo, that isn't a reflection. It's the real deal." Vergil explained. "It's a prison and Barbas rules it cruelly. There's no mercy and no escape."

Rayven shook her head, disgusted at the brutality and said, "No mercy. No escape. No surprise there."

Vergil nodded and turned to Kat. "Prepare the gateway."

She agreed, took out her stencil and bent down to trace the pattern on the road. While she was busy, Vergil stepped closer to Dante and motioned Rayven to come ahead. Once they both were in hearing distance he said, " You'll have to go alone this time. Kat can't follow where you two are headed."

Rayven pursed her lips, realizing that this mission would be tougher than the last. Dante did the same and said, "Alone is fine. She's done enough."

He didn't want Kat to put her life in anymore danger than she already had. Dealing with the demon was their responsibility, not hers. Rayven gave him a look and saw that he had an air of firm resolve and conviction around him. It looked like he cared about Kat. She knew that he felt indebted to Kat just like she did. She had helped save his life and hers too. But even then, Rayven couldn't help but feel a hint of jealousy in her heart.

Vergil understood Dante's tone and gave a sly smile as he said, " On the plus side, there won't be any cameras down there."

"Good." Dante replied blankly and gave Rayven a look as if to say 'Don't wanna go through that again.'

Kat by then had finished her gateway design. It had already started to glow. She got up, looked at the two brothers and said, "Dante, we don't know much about this demon." There was a sense of fear in her voice.

Dante kept a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "I'm sure it will be lovely."

Vergil gave Kat a look. He hadn't expected for them to become friendlier. He was simply shooting in the dark when he said all those things to Rayven the night before. He turned to look at her and saw a hint of sorrow. She looked back at him with confusion and gave him a small smile.

Dante was already standing near the gateway when he called out, "Piggles! We gotta go."

Rayven gave Dante a nod and walked up to the gateway. She looked up at him and they both stepped on it together. Soon they were engulfed by the glowing light of the rift and they faded away.

At the same time, underneath the bridge the reflected design of the gateway glowed and both of them started to drop down into the water and finally into Limbo. Their hands and legs swayed in the air as they fell. They soon dropped forward onto what looked like the underside of the reflection of the bridge above. They crash landed and hit the metal before they could steady themselves while the bridge groaned in response, echoing in the eerie silence of Limbo.

The two grumbled in pain as their bodies reacted to the impact of the fall. Dante got up and held out his hand for Rayven to use as support to get up. She put her hand in his and looked upwards as she stood up. The entire reflection of the city was thriving in Limbo. Each building was upside down. The walkways, the elevated train tracks, the cars and trucks; everything was mirrored here. So much so, that even the sky was mirrored and it was raining upside down. The endless abyss stared up at them.

They saw the levitating containers, vehicles and broken sections of the roads and buildings clutter the void. On closer look, the clutter sort of appeared to form a pathway to the area ahead. The pathway was a little away from them. They had to figure out how to get there. As the two looked along the path, they saw the Raptor News Tower dominating the environment. The tower gleamed in a dark red hue. The lights in the building twinkled in the haze of Limbo. And a beam of light from the lowermost tip appeared to scan the surroundings.

Dante smirked and said, "Well Bob, I now get why your point of view is so upside down."

Rayven gave out a small laugh, agreeing with him. That caused Dante to look at her and say, "Good. You're still with me."

"Yeah. Where else would I be?" Her reply was soft.

"I dunno. You're quiet and haven't exactly been sharing much today." Dante said with his eyebrows raised.

Rayven turned away not wanting him to see the guilt in her eyes. She had no idea what to say, how to explain her inconsistent behavior. But he deserved an answer. So she looked back at him and sadly said, "I just want to get this over with and get back to my life again."

Dante looked at her with suspicion. He knew that what she said was only half the story. There was more and he was going to find out sooner or later. Right now however, their priority was different. He sighed and said, "Yeah. I suppose you would want to. You have something to look forward to, I guess."

Rayven was taken aback. She gave him a look of curiosity and said, "So do you." Stepping closer to him she asked him with a straightforward tone. "After all this is done, you're gonna stay in touch right?"

"Only if you want me too." Dante replied with a shrug, feigning indifference. However, secretly he was hoping to hear what he wanted to hear.

"What makes you think I don't?" She asked in surprise.

"I just thought….." He muttered to himself and finally said with a smile, "Cool."

Rayven knew that he wasn't convinced with her but this was the best she could do right now. She just smiled back and walked forward to stare at the world in Limbo. Her eyes went wide in surprise and shock. This place was massive and the unnatural quiet sent shivers up her spine. She looked at Dante and said, "It's such a strange world in here." Pointing towards the opposite end she said, "Look."

Dante looked towards where she was pointing and saw the upside down tracks of the elevated train with a train running on it. The sound of the passing train was almost deafening and ominous at the same time. It echoed in the silence of Limbo. They heard screams of torture and pain as it ran across. 'What the hell was inside?' And like the tracks, it was upside down too.

"Talk about a different view point." He exclaimed as he shook his head and started to walk along the underside of the bridge. Rayven didn't answer. She was still staring at the train when she realized that he had started walking away. She followed him swiftly and caught up.

As they walked on, the bridge underneath them groaned with each step. It was as though the bridge was alive. The world around them kept twisting, distorting and changing. A loud crumbling sound coming from behind them caused the two to turn around in surprise. The section of the bridge behind them snapped while splitting into two and floating away. They fell downwards as the section continued to split under their feet. They scrambled backwards as pieces of it continued to fall. Finally, it stopped and if they were even an inch closer they would have fallen into the void below. They exchanged a look of shock and wonder. Each knowing that this mission was going to be filled with unexpected challenges. They also realized the most important part of it all, the world in Limbo was out to get them. It was trying to make sure that they didn't leave this place alive.

After walking for a while they finally reached the end. What they saw in front, took them a second to comprehend. The buildings were joined together to create a single, compressed and confusing mass. Each structure stuck to the other creating a mesh work of doors, windows, walkways and stairwells. But what dominated the entire structure were the entrance and the name of the building written at the bottom. Their eyes took in the words that were written.

Central Penitentiary.

It was a jail. The huge metal gates, the barb wired compound wall, it all brought back grim memories for each nephilim. Both of them had been to one at different times in their lives. Rayven had been in one when she was caught that night, many years ago. The experience had left unwanted memories and horrors in her mind. As for Dante, he had been in and out many times and through different ones. Initially, he purposely got himself caught to search for Rayven and later as he grew up he was jailed for being in opposition to the demons.

"Wow, so even Limbo has a slammer." Dante said stepping forward. He shook his head and looked back at Rayven. She was blankly staring ahead at the heavy metal gate. Her forehead was frowned and she looked uncomfortable.

"Never thought I'd be breaking into jail." He said in humor, trying to lighten her mood.

"Yeah. I didn't think I'd see a place like this ever again.", she said. Her eyes were still fixated at the gate and her mind clouded in the dark memories of her capture and time spent in custody.

Rayven shook her head to come back to reality and walked up next to him. They faced forward trying to find a way in. As soon as they took the next step towards the platform ahead, the section of the bridge behind them started to shake and tremble. They turned around at the sudden movement and saw that the platform split into pieces. It shook in the air for a bit and fell downwards. They looked ahead in wonder and tried to lean ahead but before they could, the fallen pieces flew upwards and started to levitate mid air. But it wasn't just the pieces that were floating. Standing atop each piece was a large bulky demon holding a shield, each wielding either a sword or a mace.

There were at least twelve to fifteen demons, staring at them, waiting. It looked as though the demons were expecting them and had come prepared. Dante and Rayven's swords soon appeared and grasping them tightly, they stood in an attacking stance. The demons were shaking their swords in the air and screaming at them with a screechy shrill voice. The noise was uncomfortable, irritating and the two frowned in displeasure.

Suddenly, there was silence and the demons stood still. Dante and Rayven stared ahead, trying to gauge the next move of their enemies. One of the demons took a step forward, it's sword held firmly in its hands and as if on cue all demons gave out a long shrill shriek together. This was new. The two nephilims exchanged a look of fear, surprise and shock, all at the same time. They knew what it was.

It was a war cry.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 22

Duncan sat at his desk, staring at the wall on the opposite side intently. His reflection was visible in the dark TV screen hanging in the middle. He was waiting, waiting for confirmation of what he knew was about to happen. His eyes narrowed towards the wall and his elbow resting on the desk as he tapped his fingers impatiently. Mundus had known exactly what to expect out of the pesky nephilims, to which he had agreed. 'Intelligent race. My ass!' He thought and gave out a short laugh. They were stupid enough to be that predictable. And now, they had walked right into the trap. But he had to know for sure.

"Bob! Why the fuck is it taking so long?" He muttered to himself.

The stupid demon couldn't do a single job properly. All he had to do was get the population riled up enough to reveal the location of the Order. But that had turned out to be useless. Bob's news reports made the humans far too afraid of the Order to report them. Barring a few sightings and worthless tips, nothing concrete was found on them. He wasn't even able to help them capture Dante or Rayven. Two, just two individuals. He had warned Barbas that if he would continue to be his lazy self any longer, he would send his sorry ass back to the depths of hell himself and make sure that he suffered the worst fate possible.

Duncan shook his head in disdain. It was useless thinking about that right now. He shifted in his seat and was about to pick up the phone when he heard a knock on his door.

"What?"

His assistant hesitantly opened the door and said," Sir, it's Mr. Barbas for you on line one."

Duncan turned his attention to the phone and saw that the small red light was blinking. He must have turned off the ringer when he came in. He cursed under his breath at his foolishness and waved at his assistant to leave as he picked up the phone.

"Bob..." He said in a low growl. "You better have some good news."

"The best." The voice on the other end chuckled.

"Let's hear it."

"Turn on channel nine."

Duncan frowned and with his free hand, aimed the remote at the TV screen. It blinked as it turned on. The image slightly blurred as the machine attempted to optimize the reception.

"What exactly am I looking at?" He asked.

"Just take a closer look."

Duncan looked with his full attention. Almost immediately, his face distorted in an ugly smile when he saw the sight he so eagerly was waiting for. Right there, standing in the middle of all the demons were the sick abominations. But what pleased him more was the fact that one of them was impaled against the ground by a demonic sword, right through its heart.

* * *

A sense of panic set inside Rayven as she realized the severity of their situation. These demons were much bigger than the ones they dealt with before. Not counting the Hunter of course. But that had been a single demon against the two of them and this time it was her and Dante against at least fifteen. They were, to simply put at a strong disadvantage.

The demons with their dark hollow eyes, gaunt faces and sharp teeth stared at them in pure rage and screamed loudly in an attempt to cause terror. Each had large torsos, brown skin covered with slashes and cuts, the rotting flesh underneath peeked through them. The torsos were matched by their bulging arms but were offset by boney hands and fingers while their legs were thinner in comparison. It was a wonder that those legs could balance the heavy set upper bodies.

'Weird looking things.' Rayven thought.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for ourselves!" Dante yelled.

"No kidding!" She replied.

They both gripped their swords tightly in anticipation and almost immediately the demon closest to them struck hard at Dante. He ducked and slammed his elbow into the demon's exposed side causing it to arch its back in pain. Not wanting to give the demon a chance to retaliate, Dante struck his sword at an angle across its back and disposed it off swiftly. The demon's sticky, black entrails flew forward into the air.

"Piece of cake." He said with a smirk.

At the same time the demons at the back had slowly stepped forward near Rayven, who stood watching their each step carefully. She didn't want to make any rash move. But as soon as one of them was close enough, she charged at it with full force. The first one went down easily as she struck it at an upward angle, successfully splitting it into two, it's mace flying away in the air. The demon behind the one she killed stared at her in shock. She gave it a sardonic grin and mocked, "I'm sorry! Was that your friend?"

The demon screamed at her in response. She charged at him and swiped her sword hard in an attempt to do him away just as easily, only to find that it had saved itself with the shield. The clang of her sword hitting the metal shield echoed through the surroundings.

"Dammit!" She screamed in frustration, backing up to get a better aim.

The demon simply moved forward, closing the distance and striking its weapon at her. She held out her sword and defended herself. Their swords clashing against one another. She pushed it backwards with full force and kicked it right in the gut, throwing it off balance. As the demon flailed its arms around she swiped ahead, beheading it. Her attention then went towards Dante.

He was busy fighting off the demons that had encircled him. It looked to be quite a predicament but Dante was striking them down efficiently. He punched one of the demons in the chin and it flew upwards at the strike. It dropped its shield in imbalance which Dante picked up and after he sliced through the demon with his sword, he flung the shield towards the one lingering at the back. The sharp shield spun in the air and sliced through the demon's torso.

Dante then turned his attention to the three demons that were inching closer. He gave them a sly smile and teased, "You guys sure know how to play." He walked up to them and sliced through each of them with ease. Their arms and legs flew in the air as he was done with them.

As he stared at their dismembered bodies he said, "But I'm the best player there is."

He then looked back Rayven and asked, "What do you think?"

She smiled back and was about to reply in the same jest when she saw a slimy one slinking close to Dante with its sword held high and ready to strike. Her eyes widened as she screamed, "Dante! Look out!"

Dante frowned and turned around quickly, only to have a sword pierce right through his chest.

"Aghh!" He screamed in agony as the demon pushed him into ground and drove the blade further into his heart.

"NO!" Rayven screamed.

She started to run towards him, slicing aggressively through all the demons that were in her way. She had almost reached him and was about to strike when she was interrupted midway. Her path was blocked by a demon that had stepped in the middle and struck her with its shield. She fell to the ground in pain and as she looked upwards, the demon walked towards her and lifted her with its hand wrapped around her neck. It began to choke her and as she tried to free herself, the sword fell off her hand. She struggled to break free but the demon was stronger and it slammed her against the heavy door of the prison building, giving out a screeching scream as it did so. Her hands tried to pull off the demon's fingers but it gripped tighter and she coughed in discomfort as it almost cut-off her air supply.

Dante winced and screamed in pain as the demon attacking him twisted the sword. An evil grin spread across its face as it twisted the blade even more. Dante let go of his own weapon and held the demon's sword with both hands, successfully stopping its movement. The demon jerked its head backward in surprise and with all its might tried twisting the blade again. But Dante was stronger. He pushed in the opposite direction and once there was enough room, kicked the demon with his leg. It fell backwards as Dante picked up his sword and got up, the one belonging to the demon still lodged in his chest.

As the demon regained its balance and moved forward to attack, he swiftly swung his weapon sideways. The demon split in half across its torso, leaving the spare few behind staring at Dante in wonder.

Dante looked at them and as he slowly pulled out the demon blade he snarkily said, "Yeah, yeah! Son of a bitch. I know!"

The demons growled in anger and slowly jerked ahead to attack. Dante threw away the demonic weapon and grasped his own tighter as his wound began to heal. He was about to attack when he heard a choking sound coming from his right. His eyes went wide as he saw Rayven pressed against the door, there were tears in her eyes from the pain and her legs were flapping around while a demon continued to choke her.

"Hey! Get off her, you slimy piece of shit." He yelled in pure rage as he ran to her.

The remaining demons followed him in close pursuit. His sword rapidly morphed into the blue scythe as he quickly turned around and swung it at the demons behind him. Not only were they shocked and taken by surprise but were also clearly under-trained to deal with the weapon. The scythe went through them all, dismembering and killing them instantly.

By the time Dante got to Rayven, the demon had already gripped her even more tightly and was about to stab her when she used every bit of her strength and kicked its leg right at the knee. The kick was not her strongest but it was positioned at the weakest point and caused the demon to flop downwards in pain. Its grip on her neck loosened as it fell to its knees and before the demon could get back up, it screamed in horror as it felt a sharp pain around its own neck.

Rayven, who had herself had fallen back to the ground, stared at it in wonder. She wasn't able to understand what was happening to it. The demon gave out another screeching squeal when suddenly its head slid away from its body and rolled away. She watched in horror as the rest of the demon body fell forward and the figure behind came into view.

"Now that is how you kick some demon ass." Dante said, smirking as he walked forward. He held out his arm for Rayven and gripping hers firmly as she got up.

"I guess I need you to give me a few lessons then. If you have the time, that is." She said, observing the shiny blue weapon in his hand.

Dante grinned, picked up her sword and handed it over. As she took it he raised his eyebrow, "For you, Piggles, I've got all the time in the world."

She pointed at his weapon, "What's that?"

Dante held the blue weapon upwards and looked at it and replied,"A gift from my Mom."

"Sorry. I had no idea." She said with sadness in her voice.

"It's okay." Dante said as he returned his gaze to her. He gave a sly smile as he teased, "You know, I saved your ass again." Emphasizing on the word 'again'.

She shook her head in awe and rubbed her neck which was sore from the attack. That caught Dante's attention and he frowned in concern as he asked, "Are you okay?"

She looked up at him and winced slightly while she replied, "Honestly? I've been better. Way better."

Dante continued to frown. He was well aware that being a nephilim, the pain was merely temporary. But even then, he hated to see her go through it.

"Bob! You fucking asshole."He hissed through his teeth. "He knew we were coming."

"I know. How the hell did that happen?"

"Maybe they aren't as stupid as we thought."

"You're joking, I hope." She said while raising her eyebrows. "Still, you have to wonder how they know. Do you think someone's following us?"

"You mean, like James?" Dante asked in curiosity.

"Yeah!"

"Could be. But it doesn't matter. It's not changing anything. We still got to kill the son of a bitch."

"Well, we better start making our way to the tower if wanna get rid of this bastard." Rayven simply stated with a shrug. Dante nodded in agreement.

They both turned their attention back to the prison. They waited for only a second to catch their breath before moving ahead. Their wounds had healed by now and their resolve returned. Noticing the walkway to their left, they started walking through it.

It was the ceiling of the corridor of the prison. As they walked through the dark corridor they saw strange looking silhouettes appearing and disappearing quickly in a flash. It was the twisted reflection of the real world and the people in it with their inhumanly chatter filling the surroundings. The two nephilims came up to the end, only to find that it was sealed shut. They exchanged a look of surprise.

Rayven looked back at the obstruction and moved ahead to touch it, get a feel for the material and maybe find a weak spot. The ragged material felt to be almost wood-like. They needed something to ram against it or at least give it a strong kick. She turned around to give her suggestion, "Maybe we could..."

Bam!

There was a loud sound as something hit it hard and the heavy wooden material broke into pieces as it flew forward. She ducked downwards in surprise and shock. She looked behind and saw Dante standing next to her, grinning widely. It was easy to put two and two together. He had kicked it open. She cursed him under her breath, "Dante! You idiot! You scared the shit out of me. Couldn't you at least give me a warning?"

"And miss seeing that expression on your face. Not a chance." He teased.

"That's not funny."

"Sure it is."

"Not to me it isn't."

She was still glaring at him in anger. Dante knew he should have warned her. But they didn't have the time and he was steadily growing impatient.

"I'm sorry, okay." He attempted to apologize.

"Save it. Not like you mean it anyway." She just plainly stated and walked ahead. Realizing that she was walking alone, she turned around and saw Dante standing behind, staring back at her.

"Can we go now?"

He just shook his head and walked up to her, "All these years apart and you still know me so well."

"I know. It's a curse." She frowned in reply.

They stood staring at each other and soon neither could control their smile. They turned their attention to the area that was revealed. It was the detention hall. It was filled with groans and screams of the detainees. They could see their dark shadowy figures swaying in pain and agony on the ceiling. Bob Barbas' voice was booming through the room.

'Setting foot outside of the penal colony will result in 100 years of severe suffering.'

'Prisoners are detained for prolonged suffering. Suicide is not possible. Attempts at suicide will extend your suffering.'

Rayven flinched in discomfort and closed her eyes. She couldn't bear to see it. She remembered being held against her will. Even though she could walk around in her room, she had been kept with her foot chained to the wall. The nightmare had hardly ended there. Not wanting to re-live it in her mind, she opened her eyes quickly and looked at Dante. He was staring at her in confusion.  
"You sure your okay?"

She looked up and nodded. Bob's voice continued to echo through.

'Your thoughts are being monitored. Any illegal thought patterns will be punishable by death.'

'Mental reform is your salvation.'

'This is Bob Barbas. Just doing God's work.'

"God's work, huh?" Dante huffed and walked ahead. "We'll see about that."

Rayven just followed him in silence. After walking through the penitentiary for a while they came into a clearing. The large metal room had a platform on one side and an opening to a tunnel right above it. She looked at the surroundings as they climbed up a platform leading to the long tunnel. They both observed the tunnel as they walked through it. There were small lights at the bottom. Other than that, nothing else was visible in the darkness. Weird! The internal structure of the building was different in Limbo. Where the hell were they?

Dante turned around and looked at her. "What do you think this is?"

Before she could answer, a high pitched rumbling sound filled the tunnel. Their eyes grew wide and their faces shared the same expression. They slowly turned their heads to the far, deep end and saw two lights glimmering. They looked to be moving closer to them. The tunnel rumbled and shook in response. It felt like an earthquake and it looked as though the lights were causing it.

As the lights approached closer to Dante and Rayven, they realized that the two spots of light were glowing ominously and were moving at a fast speed towards them. The two nephilims stared back at the lights in wonder and suddenly, before they knew it, the upside down subway train was on them.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 23

Dante and Rayven split to either sides of the subway train just fraction of a second before it ran past them. If it would have been any second later, they both would have been struck down and crushed under it. Each clutched the wall tightly as the train ran in between them. Their fingers digging into the cold stone walls. The high pitched sound of the train resonated in the tunnel and somehow seemed to amplify. The groans of tortured souls trapped inside rose high above the sounds of the train.

Rayven and Dante stared at the passing train with eyes wide open and they could see each other through the gaps between each carriage. The speed of the train seemed to blur their faces. Their heart beats were running fast in exhilaration and anxiety of the possible accident. Neither wanted to be stupid enough to get injured or dead before their revenge could be completed.

Soon the entire length of the train passed through and the two were left staring at each other in shock. Their hair was tousled and clothes slightly disheveled because of the fast moving train.

"That was close!" Rayven exclaimed.

Dante sighed, "Tell me 'bout it. Any second later and we'd be pancakes."

"Yeah, not mention that our job would have been left incomplete."

"Don't forget that Vergil would be so mad at us if we got killed. He'd definitely hunt us down and probably kill us after."

Rayven gave out a short laugh and nodded as she straightened her hair. She looked around to observe their surroundings and realized that they were inside the subway tunnel. That was a problem. The trains would be running at regular intervals and they had to get out of here as soon as possible. Dante was doing the same as her and came to the same conclusion.

"Piggles, we gotta get outta here. That thing is probably going to come back."

"I know." Rayven agreed.

Dante turned his attention back to tunnel and spotted a slight stream of light on the side at the far end, anything beyond was pitch black. It seemed to be the only way out. Besides, if they turned back, they wouldn't know where to go. He looked at Rayven and pointed towards the stream of light. She turned to look at it and gave him a nudge as she started walking ahead. Dante grinned and closely followed.

Once they reached the light they realized that it was an opening to the outside. Having nowhere else to go, they stepped through it and came onto a series of platforms that led up to a metal pathway. On seeing those, Dante cursed under his breath.

"Why do we always have to climb everything? Can't it just be a straight road ahead?"

Rayven laughed at his irritation and pointed towards the pathway, "How else were you planning on getting up there? By flying?"

Dante looked upwards, pretended to think and finally said, "Well, you never know!"

Grumbling under their breaths, the two started to climb up. After scaling a couple of platforms, they came up to the pathway. It was a honeycombed, metal grill-like path with metal trusses on the sides. It ran towards the tower which they so eagerly wanted to reach. The vast emptiness of Limbo surrounded them. It was still raining and bolts of lightning flashed through the dark clouds underneath them. It was truly a twisted world.

As they took a step forward, the same high pitched sound from earlier returned. They knew what it was and each of them looked around quickly. They were trying hard to spot the direction from where the train was coming. But it was useless.

Neither could find out where.

Suddenly, the pathway underneath them started to shake and twist causing their attention to focus downwards. Soon, the round metallic wheels of the train were visible as it ran below them on the opposite side of the pathway. They exchanged a look of shock mixed with relief however a loud crashing sound drew their attention back towards it. The train had crashed into the solid mass on the opposite side and all its carriages were set loose. The carriages flew around in all directions, flipping long the way. A couple of them rammed into the building on the side, while others fell into the endless depths of Limbo.

One such carriage flew towards them causing the two nephilims to swiftly step backwards in a reflex action. The carriage slammed into the pathway and broke it as it fell downwards, dragging the metal sections with it. The uneasy sound of metal scraping against metal echoed through the surroundings. They covered their ears at the sound as the broken pieces finally fell to the end.

Soon, there was silence. The nephilims sensing the silence looked ahead and saw the predicament that awaited them. The pathway was broken and now they had no way to get ahead.

"Oh, great!"

Rayven stared in horror at the event and said, "Bob really has it against us, doesn't he?"

"That bastard! What can I say, he needs his breaking news." Dante replied with a sly grin.

"Sure, he'll get his news but what 'bout us? How do we get to him?"

Dante gave her a shrug indicating that he was just as clueless as she was. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say something, flapping sounds and a low grunting voice caught his attention and he looked to his right.

On the far other side, an old man wearing a bluish long robe was hitting these flying, shiny and ugly looking things in the air with his cane. Their bodies were feminine and human-like but they were almost metallic with demonic wings. They seemed to be irritating him and enjoying it as though it were a fun sport.

Dante pointed towards the man which made Rayven look there as well, "What the hell is going on out there?"

"Beats me."

Dante gave a nod in the old man's direction, "Let's go find out."

They climbed up the last platform and came to what looked like the underside of a large canopy. The carved archways were attached to three of its sides. It was broken just like every other thing in the place but its beauty was still unbeatable. Standing in the center was the old man, shouting while waving his cane in the air as he tried to drive the demons away.

"You bastards! Leave me alone!"

But the demons were very pesky and stubborn. They kept on nudging him turn by turn and the man yelled at them in annoyance.

"Leave me alone... Leave me alone..."

As soon as the demons saw Dante and Rayven walk in closer, they gave out a shrill scream and flapped their wings swiftly. They focused their attention at the nephilims and flew away on realizing the two were near.

The old man realized the intrusion and turned around. That's when they saw that one of his eyes was stone-like while the other half of his face was some kind of metal contraption, the eye from which was missing. He seemed to be staring at them but not noticing them. It looked as though he had lost his vision but his sense of smell was strong. He gave a short sniff, the metal ring in his nose moved in response.

"Who's there? I know you're there! I can feel you. There are two of you. Who is it? Tell me. Or, I'll cut your head off!" He growled as he lifted his cane to strike them.

They both took a step back and looked at each other in shock. Who'd want to get hit by an old man? Neither knew what to say or ask. But it was Dante who decided to speak, "Put your stick down! I'm not gonna hurt you - unless you give me a reason to."

The man stepped ahead and asked out of curiosity in low tone, "Are you two...prisoners of Mundus too?"

"No. We're from upstairs. Can you tell me how to get to that tower?" Dante replied while Rayven resorted to silence and gave the tower a vengeful glare.

"The tower? Why?"

"Cos our plan is to kill the demon that runs this show. Will you help?"

The man gave a thoughtful reply, "Kill it? Yes. I can help."

Dante gave Rayven a smirk, feeling very proud of his persuasion. She however wasn't very sure of this agreement. They were in Limbo, Bob knew that they were coming and they were almost killed earlier. Why should they believe this man? Who's to say he wouldn't spring a trap on them?

The old man gave a longing stare towards the tower. Though he was currently blind, his sense of direction was strong. He sighed and turned back towards them.

"If you help me first."

Dante grumbled under his breath. Obviously, nothing in this world came for free.

"Let's hear it."

The man looked upwards at the upside down arched entrance, the same place from where the demons had escaped and said, "Those flying bastards stole my eye. They torment me incessantly. I can't leave here without it. I'm trapped for eternity."

Turning towards them he continued, "Get me back my eye and I'll take you to the tower."

"Okay. You've got a deal." Dante replied without thinking or taking Rayven's consent.

She glared at him, "You can't possibly be serious about this. What if he's lying? You are willing to risk your life for this."

"Ah! She finally decides to speak," the old man smiled and moved towards her, "I was wondering when you would."

Rayven looked at him in anger, "Well, I don't exactly trust you."

"Trust; it has always been something you have fought with since childhood. I can sense that from you." he replied, his face was devoid of any other movement and the calmness in his voice was apparent.

"Good. Then you must also be able to sense that I will chop your head off if you plan to double-cross." It was Rayven whose voice was calm and firm this time around.

He smiled, "There's no doubt that you will."

Dante pointed to the tower, "Piggles, we have to do this. There is no other way to get up there."

"Fine, but I am staying here to keep a watch on him." she replied.

"Are you sure about that?" he questioned her with genuine worry.

She nodded, "Like you said, there's no other way. So, you go get his eye and I'll stay here to make sure he doesn't bail on our deal."

Dante didn't want to agree to this decision and pulled her away so that they were out of the man's hearing distance. There was no way that he was leaving her alone with an unknown man. They had too much to lose if something went wrong. While, Rayven was annoyed at Dante's actions. He hadn't asked her opinion regarding the deal and now was behaving oddly after she suggested that she should stay back and keep an eye on the man. How else were they going make sure that the old man would stay true to his words?

Dante pulled her closer as he leaned in, "What the hell was that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." She stated blankly.

"You want to stay back here, with him," he asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

Rayven sighed, "Yes."

"That's bad idea."

"So is believing an unknown old man, who you just met that to in an invisible demon world." she replied in a sarcastic tone with her eyebrows raised.

"We need to get to the tower and get that fucking demon. You think there's a better way to get there?" he tried reasoning with her.

"Listen Dante, if this is the only way, then we have to make sure that he sticks to his part of the deal," she explained and placed her hand on his arm, realizing his reluctance. "I'll be fine. You know I will. He won't be able to touch me. And if he does, then he can kiss my sword."

Dante gave her a sly grin, "I know which is why I'm worried about that guy."

Rayven smiled in response, "So, you're okay with this?"

"I'm not happy 'bout it but we've gotta move forward." He turned his attention to the old man and yelled, "We're in, but she stays. You okay with that?"

The man was smiling as if he knew a secret which they didn't, "By all means. I'm not going anywhere."


End file.
